Love, Money, and Old Age Support : Does Parental Matchmaking Matter?
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 evidenc...
| Main Authors: | , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Publications & Research |
| Language: | English en_US |
| Published: |
World Bank Group, Washington, DC
2015
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2015/02/23950160/null http://hdl.handle.net/10986/21453 |
| Summary: | 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. |
|---|