Publication Type

Working Paper

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

2-2015

Abstract

Parental involvement in matchmaking may distort the choice of spouse because parents are willing to substitute love for market and household production, which are more sharable between parents and their children. This paper finds supportive evidence in a survey of Chinese couples. In both rural and urban areas, parent matchmaking is associated with less marital harmony between the couple, more submissive wives, and a stronger belief in old age support for the son. In contrast, its association with couple income differs by rural and urban regions, perhaps because of differences in earning opportunities and in the enforcement of the one-child policy. Moreover, parent matchmaking is associated with more children for the couple and lower schooling for wives only in rural areas. Thus, in places with a stronger need for old age support, parents tend to be involved in matchmaking and use it to select submissive daughters-in-law to ensure old age support. The results render support to Becker, Murphy and Spenckuch (2015), who imply that parents would meddle with children's preferences to ensure their commitment to providing old age support.

Keywords

Parental matchmaking, household production, old age support, parental welfare, social network

Discipline

Behavioral Economics | Family, Life Course, and Society

Research Areas

Applied Microeconomics

First Page

1

Last Page

44

Identifier

10.1596/1813-9450-7188

Publisher

World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 7188

City or Country

Washington, DC

Copyright Owner and License

Authors

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-7188

Download

Share

COinS