Abstract
The custom of bride price involves the payment of goods or cash from the groom's family to the bride's family at the time of marriage. Data from a household survey in Uganda were used to estimate the relationship between payment of bride price and non-marital sexual relationships. A robust correlation between bride price payment and lower rates of non-marital sexual relationships is found for women but not for men. One interpretation we offer for these findings is that bride price reflects the price of women's sexual fidelity to men. This interpretation makes sense in light of the refundable nature of bride price in Uganda.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1177-1187 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Journal of Population Economics |
Volume | 23 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1 2010 |
Keywords
- Bride price
- Extramarital relations
- Marriage
- Uganda
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Demography
- Economics and Econometrics