We estimate the impact of female leaders on intimate partner violence experienced by women in districts from which they are elected. Exposure to female leaders in state legislatures in India increases the likelihood that female constituents in rural areas report experiencing physical violence...

This chapter reviews the literature on marriage in developing countries. We describe how marital matching occurs; the trends in age at marriage; assortative mating patterns; marriage payments; and spousal decision-making after a marriage has occurred. Lastly, we discuss trends and rationales for...

This paper examines how traditional marriage market institutions affect households' financial decisions. We study how bride-to-groom marriage payments, i.e., dowries, influence saving behavior in rural India. Exploiting variation in firstborn gender and heterogeneity in dowry amounts across...

The ancient custom of dowry, that is, bride-to-groom marriage payments, remains ubiquitous in many contemporary societies. This paper examines whether dowry impacted household decision making and resource allocation in rural India during 1986-2007. Utilizing variation in firstborn gender and...

Recent studies demonstrate that female leaders can improve gender-specific outcomes along multiple dimensions through better provision of public goods and legislative changes that benefit women. Using quasi-random exposure to female leaders elected to state legislatures in India, this paper...