Munir Squires

Séminaires thématiques
Development and political economy seminar

Munir Squires

University of British Columbia
Economic consequences of kinship: Evidence from US bans on cousin marriage
Co-écrit avec
Arkadev Ghosh, Sam Hwang
à distance
Date(s)
Vendredi 19 février 2021| 15:30 - 16:45
Contact(s)

Timothée Demont : timothee.demont[at]univ-amu.fr
Eva Raiber : eva.raiber[at]univ-amu.fr

Résumé

Close-kin marriage, by sustaining tightly knit clan-like structures, may impede development. We use 19th and 20th century US state-level bans on cousin marriage to study the causal effect of tight kinship on economic outcomes. We show that these bans did reduce rates of in-marriage, and that affected descendants therefore have higher incomes and more schooling. We examine the following potential mechanisms, drawn from the literature: geographic mobility, female labor force participation, age at marriage, and genetic effects. Our results are most consistent with increased urbanization leading to the increase in income.