Anushka Chawla*, Fabien Petit**

Internal seminars
phd seminar

Anushka Chawla*, Fabien Petit**

AMSE
Parental involvement in spouse choice and marriage outcomes: Evidence from India*
Social mobility and job polarization**
Venue

IBD Salle 16

Îlot Bernard du Bois - Salle 16

AMU - AMSE
5-9 boulevard Maurice Bourdet
13001 Marseille

Date(s)
Tuesday, February 11 2020| 12:45pm to 2:15pm
Contact(s)

Anushka Chawla: anushka.chawla[at]univ-amu.fr
Laura Sénécal: laura.senecal[at]univ-amu.fr
Carolina Ulloa Suarez: carolina.ulloa-suarez[at]univ-amu.fr

Abstract

*Arranged marriages have been a feature of the Indian marriage market throughout history. Evidence on the evolution of marital patterns as well as their subsequent impact on marital outcomes is, however, limited. In this paper, using a unique nationally representative dataset, I study the trends in women's say in choosing their husbands, and inter-caste marriages in India from 1970 to 2012. The results show that fully parent-arranged marriages in India have declined over time. This decline has almost entirely been compensated by an increase in marriages in which women jointly choose their husbands along with their parents. Further, I find that it is only in the case where women have autonomy in spouse choice, that they are more likely to have inter-caste marriages. Using an IV approach, I examine the causal impact of parental involvement in spouse choice on assortativity (in education, age and caste), female autonomy, and couple interactions. The results show that women in parent-arranged marriages are more similar to their husbands in caste and age, but not in education, have lower bargaining power and financial autonomy, and enjoy lower couple interaction on average than women who had a say in choosing their spouse. Notable, jointly-arranged marriages resemble parent-arranged marriages in the case of inter-caste marriages. However, with reference to female autonomy and couple outcomes, jointly-arranged marriages are more similar to marriages in which women choose their husband on their own.

**Social mobility seems to have decreased in several countries over the past few decades. We use panel data for the UK to examine the reasons for such a decline. We test whether it is due to the impact of parental income on child education and entry job; or if it has been caused by lower mobility across jobs over the individual’s life-cycle. The role played by education has increased notably because education affects pay late in life even when we control for entry job, creating a force that reduces mobility. In contrast, the impact of initial pay has declined over time which is a source of increasing mobility. The exception are routine workers who have not experienced the latter effect. This result is consistent with the hypothesis that job polarization has destroyed intermediate jobs that acted as a stepping-stone for these workers to move to better-paid positions.