Literature review compilations Essay

1. Rao, V. (1993). The rising price of husbands: A hedonic analysis of dowry increases in rural India. Journal of Political Economy, 666-677. Motivation and objective : Attempts to investigate the reasons behind the increase in dowry . Methods : It adapts Rosen’s implicit market model to the Indian marriage market and tests predictions from the model with data from six villages in South Central India and from the Indian census Theories : Using utility function, U is assumed to be maximized, given that U is the utility function which represent the household preferences. The function will be U = U(X,W,H). Where X refers to consumption of goods, W refers to the desirable traits of the bride and her family and H is traits of the groom. Main Findings : It is found that a â€Å"marriage squeeze† caused by population growth, resulting in larger younger cohorts and hence a surplus of women in the marriage market, has played a significant role in the rise in dowries. ( Surplus o f women over man at marriageable ages) 2. Skogrand, L. M., Schramm, D. G., Marshall, J. P., & Lee, T. R. (2005). The effects of debt on newlyweds and implications for education. Journal of extension, 43(3), 1. Motivation and objective : Examines the relationship between newlywed debt, selected demographic variables, and newlywed levels of marital satisfaction and adjustment.. Methods: A 38-item survey was mailed to a random sample of 2,823 newlywed couples in a western state. The couples’ names were randomly chosen from the marriage licenses that were filed within the state during a six-month period. Husbands and wives were asked to complete their surveys separately.The response rate was 40%, with 1,010 couples responding. Theories and tools : Marital satisfaction was measured using the Kansas Marital Satisfaction Scale (KMSS) (Schumm et al., 1986), and marital adjustment was measured using the Revised Dyadic Adjustment Scale (RDAS) (Busby, Crane, Christensen, & Larson, 1995). The KMSS and RDAS are established measures for assessing marital satisfaction and adjustment, both having correlation coefficients above .78. Main Findings: The findings from this study indicate that entering marriage with consumer debt has a negative impact on newlywed levels of marital quality. The large majority (70%) of newlyweds in this study brought debt into their marriage relationship. This amount of debt, along with other expenses associated with couples beginning their lives together, are likely to  distract couples from the developmental task of building a strong marriage relationship during the first few months and years of marriage Policy recommendation: .- Because many individuals marry with no more than a high sc hool education, educating individuals about debt and its potentially negative impact on marriage relationships should begin in high school. This may be one way to help couples achieve healthier marriages 3. S. Dalmia (2004). A hedonic analysis of marriage transactions in India: estimating determinants of dowries and demandfor groom characteristics in marriage. Research in Economics 58 (2004) 235–255. Motivation and objective : This paper uses data from a retrospective sample survey to develop and test a framework capable of explaining dowry exchange and groom selection in India. Methods: Using a sample of 1037 households between 1956 and 1994, this paper develops and tests a framework capable of explaining marriage transactions and groom selection in India. Theories and tools : It adapts Rosen’s (1974) implicit market model and takes the view that dowry is a simple economic transaction that functions to ‘equalize’ the value of marriage services exchanged by the households of the bride and groom. Main Findings: Consistent with ethnographic evidence, results indicate that dowries are higher in regions more to the north. Most importantly, contrary to popular belief, it is found that holding groom characteristics constant, real dowries have decreased over time. Finally, in estimating the parameters of the demand functions for a set of groom attributes, results show that the most important determinants of demand for various groom attributes are price of the attribute, bride’s traits, and the socio-economic status of the bride’s h ousehold 4. Siwan Anderson (2007). The Economics of Dowry and Brideprice. Journal of Economic Perspectives—Volume 21, Number 4—Fall 2007—Pages 151–174 Motivation and objective: This paper first establishes some basic facts about the prevalence and magnitude of marriage payments. It then discusses how such patterns vary across countries depending upon economic conditions, societal structures, institutions, and family characteristics. Theories and tools: The descriptions of marriage payments in this paper are synthesizedfrom a patchwork of studies across periods, places, and even epochs, and there are doubtless numerous cases which remain undocumented.  Discussion: Economists’ interest in marriage payments partly stems from their potential to affect the wealth distribution across generations and families. However, economic analysis has not directly investigated these welfare impacts of marriage payments. In this respect, marriage transfers which are destined for the couple, either in the form of dowry or dower, may function differently from those which are paid directly from one set of parents to the other, like bride price or groom price. The former payment is an intergenerational transfer. The latter forms a circulating fund, with receipt for marriages of one gender being used to pay for marriages of children of the other. 5. Sarwat Afzal & Imtiaz Subhani (2009). To Estimate An Equation Explaining The Determinants Of Dowry. Iqra University Motivation and objective : The focus of this study is to estimate an equation explaining the determinants of dowry. Methods: The data of 140 respondents is used to examine the variables to determine the dowry size, data set on bride-groom characteristics and dowry. The study has been focused on analysis that dowry paid is dependent on which variables Subject in the rural subcontinent. Since the objective of study is to estimate the equation explaining the determinant of dowry so all the variables given in the data are takes as independent and the dowry paid is taken as dependent variable. Theories and tools: This paper determine the determinants of dowry, using multiple regression analysis, the author used the ANOVA table, R2 value to tabulate the determinants of dowry price. Main Findings: This research suggested that dowry paid is based on the status and the affluence of husband’s family as well as the education of the husband’s father that are the important determina nts of the incidence of dowries. The influence of husband’s father education is accounted as a predictor for the system of dowry paid 6. Edlund, L. (2006). The price of marriage: Net vs. gross flows and the South Asian dowry debate. Journal of the European Economic Association, 4(2†3), 542-551. Motivation and objective : The rise in dowry payments in India has been taken as evidence that women increasingly are at a disadvantage on the marriage  market and must pay for marriage. Moreover, high dowries, it is argued, add to the plight of parents of daughters and have thus contributed to the scarcity of women (brides). However, the logic is curious, and, this paper argues, flawed. The term â€Å"dowry† can mean different things, and it may be useful to distinguish between the assets the bride brings at the time of marriage (gross dowry) and those netted against the groom payments (net dowry). The former is what is generally meant by dowry, while the latter is a concept used mainly by economists Methods: Data are from a retrospective survey of marriages conducted in 1983 by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi- Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). These data have been used in a number of studies of South Asian dowry inflation. ICRISAT conducted a stratified random sample of 40 households each from six villages in South-central India. The first household married in 1923 and the last in 1978. Main Findings: Empirically, the paper has shown that in a much-used data set on dowry inflation, net dowries did not increase in the period after 1950, belying claims of â€Å"recent† increases. Moreover, variables designed to capture marriage-squeeze or male relative to female heterogeneity failed to move dowries in the expected direction. 7. Balwick, J. (1975). The function of the dowry system in a rapidly modernizing society: The case of Cyprus. International Journal of Sociology of the Family, 158-167. Motivation and objective : The purpose of this paper is to examine the functional relationship between the dowry system and modernization for the country of Cyprus. Two inferences tried to be drawn in this paper are attempt to develop is two 1) the dowry system has served a latent function in encouraging a rapid rate of urban, Industrial, and technological development in Cyprus; and (2) that the rapid rate of technological development in Cyprus, along with new concepts of marital arrangement, are weakening the importance of the dowry system Methods: The analysis of this paper’s topic will begin by considering the function of the dowry system in Traditional Greek Cypriot society, move to a consideration of the function of the dowry system during rapid modernization, turn to a consideration of the effect of modernization upon the dowry system, and conclude by  speculating as to the possible effect which a decline in the dowry system will have upon marriage. Main Findings: modernization is a threat to the continued existence of the dowry system. The argument was made that, besides the major aspects of modernization themselves, the concept of romantic love, as a byproduct of a largely western stimulated modernization process, has been damaging to the dowry system. However, to so speculate about the future effects of modernization in Cyprus only points to the necessity for social scientists to utilize the situations created in developing countries to further examine the relationships between modernization and social structures. 8. Gaulin, S. J., & Boster, J. S. (1990). Dowry as female competition. American Anthropologist, 92(4), 994-1005. Motivation and objective : The purpose of this paper is to prove that dowry as a reproductive tactic used by prospective brides and their kin to attract the wealthiest bridegroom. The authors attempt to explain not only the rarity of dowry, but also why it occurs in the societies it does. Methods and theories: The analysis of this paper’s topic will begin by considering the female-competition model. The female-competition model assumes that, in Homo sapiens as in other animals, the behaviors associated with pair formation can be interpreted as (possibly unconscious) reproductive tactics. The authors interpret the bias in marriage transactions as reflecting a bias in competition for marriage partners. Dowry is their dependent variable; the independent variables in the female-competition model are social stratification and marital form. They grouped the existing categories to create dichotomous variable. Main Findings: The female-competition model is correct; the authors would e xpect the largest dowry payments to flow from the middle class to the elite, as women in the middle tier compete for husbands in the highest 9. Rao, V. (1993). Dowry ‘inflation’ in rural India: A statistical investigation. Population Studies, 47(2), 283-293. Motivation and objective : The author of this paper look more directly at the causes of the increase of dowry (investigate the reasons behind the rise in the real value of dowries in rural India)and use unique data collected from a small sample of households by the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). Methods and theories: The data used in this paper are from a random sample of 40 households, 30 cultivating and 10 laboring, per village, from six villages in three districts of rural South-Central India. The surveys were conducted by ICRISAT, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics.15 The districts are Akola and Sholapur in Maharashtra state, and Mahbubnagar in Andhra Prades. A quadratic specification of dowry determinants is estimated. Correlations values between variables, OLS , and other statistical tools are being used. Main Findings: The empirical results support the hypothesis that the marriage squeeze has played a significant part in causing dowry ‘inflation’. The size of the dowry transfer also seems to be affected by hyper gamy, indicated by the difference in the amount of land owned by the parents of the respective spouses before the marriage. Due to the small size of the sample and the respondents’ lack of accuracy in reporting their ages at marriage, not much can be said about the impact of age or other potential determinants on the transfer. At the district level, however, the marriage squeeze does seem to matter in reducing differences in the ages at marriage of men and woman. 10. Teays, W. (1991). The burning bride: The dowry problem in India. Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion, 29-52. Motivation and objective : The author consider the issue of dowry, its roots in custom and religious tradition, as well the ways in which the dowry system has become a dowry problem with daily dowry deaths, usually of young and often pregnant women. Main Findings: Females being devalued in the Hindu world. The internalization of that devaluation is evidenced by the numbers of mothers-in-law and sisters-in-law who actively participate in dowry murder. Marriage has become a commercial transaction complete with bargaining. Traditionally dowries were limited by convention and caste-social realities, but now the demands are out of control. â€Å"The growing trend of dowry murders only reflects the socio-economic crisis in India. 11. Zhang, J., & Chan, W. (1999). Dowry and Wife’s Welfare: A Theotrical and Empirical Analysis. Journal of Political Economy, 107(4), 786-808. Motivation and objective : This paper offers an alternative analysis. Where dowry are claimed to be not only increases the wealth of the new conjugal household but also enhances the bargaining power of the bride in the allocation of output within that household, thereby safeguarding her welfare. 2 hypotheses: Dowry increases the resources available to the bride’s new family; Dowry increases the bride bargaining position in the family, as well as her welfare. Methods and theories: This study uses data from the 1989 Taiwan Women and Family Survey,an island wide probability survey of women aged 25–60 years of all marital statuses and from different geographical locations. The female respondents provide socioeconomic information on their parents, their husbands, and themselves. An important feature of the data is that these women report transfers on dowries and bride prices related to their marriages. All these variables are then measured using statistical tools. Main Findings: The result supported the theoretical prediction that a dowry improves the wife’s welfare through both income and bargaining effects. The result also shows that a dowry is indeed a property under the wife’s control. Bride-price reduces the transaction cost involved in recovering the appropriate shares of marital output by each party, a dowry enhances the bride’s position in the household and safeguards her welfare. 12. Bishai, D., Falb, K. L., Pariyo, G., & Hindin, M. J. (2009). Bride price and sexual risk taking in Uganda. African journal of reproductive health, 13(1). Motivation and objective : This study assessed the relationship of bride price to sexual risk taking based on a large, population based survey. Methods and theories: Data were collected on bride prices for 592 married women in 12 districts in Uganda in 2001. Controlling for covariates, we found that having had a bride price significantly lowered the wife’s odds of sexual intercourse with a partner other than the spouse (OR= 0.222; 95% CI= 0.067, 0.737). Controlling for covariates, bride price increased the husband’s odds of non-spousal sexual intercourse (OR=1.489; 95% CI= 0.746, 2.972). Main Findings: Bride price payment is statistically significantly associated with lower rates of non-spousal sexual contact in women, but is  not, statistically significantly associated with higher rates in men 13. Dalmia, S., & Lawrence, P. G. (2005). The institution of dowry in India: Why it continues to prevail. The Journal of Developing Areas, 38(2), 71-93. Motivation and objective : This article empirically examines dowries in India and provides an institutional and economic rationale for the existence and continued prevalence of the system. Main Findings: Using data on marriage transactions and on the personal and family traits of marital partners the article demonstrates that payments of dowry serve to equalize the measurable differences in individual characteristics of the bride’s and groom’s and their respective households. Thus, dowry qualifies as the â€Å"price† paid for a â€Å"good match† in the marriage market. Results also reveal that the form of inheritance system, the residence of the bride after marriage, and the gender ratio of marriageable women to men have no effect on the incidence and size of dowry 14. Diamond†Smith, N., Luke, N., & McGarvey, S. (2008). ‘Too many girls, too much dowry’: son preference and daughter aversion in rural Tamil Nadu, India. Culture, health & sexuality, 10(7), 697-708. Motivation and objective : The southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu has experienced a dramatic decline in fertility, accompanied by a trend of increased son preference. This paper reports on findings from qualitative interviews with women in rural villages about their fertility decision-making which is due to the dowry rate. Main Findings: Findings suggest that daughter aversion, fuelled primarily by the perceived economic burden of daughters due to the proliferation of dowry, is playing a larger role in fertility decision-making than son preference. 15. Rozario, S. (2002). Grameen Bank-style microcredit: Impact on dowry and women’s solidarity. Development Bulletin, 57, 67-70. Motivation and objective : This article focuses on two specific problems connected with Grameen Bank-style microcredit in Bangladesh: its negative impact on women’s solidarity, and its consequences for the practice of dowry payments. Main Findings: Findings suggest that Unmarried women are not  accepted in the microcredit samities and so cannot receive loans. The argument is that they will get married and go away to their husbands’ village, then who will repay their loan? This denies any opportunity to marginal groups, like unmarried women and, of course, widows and abandoned women. Such policies also mean that unmarried women are made completely dependent financially on the mercy of their families. 16. Kazi Abdur Rouf, (2012) â€Å"A feminist interpretation of Grameen Bank Sixteen Decisions campaign†, Humanomics, Vol. 28 Iss: 4, pp.285 – 296. Motivation and objective : The purpose of this paper is to look at Grameen Bank (GB) Sixteen Decisions campaigns and its implications to feminism; and to examine the degree to which women borrowers of the Grameen Bank are empowered to participate in familial decision-making around dowry and teenage marriage and to develop their public spaces in the community. Moreover, the paper critically looks at the GB women borrowers’ development through the Sixteen Decisions Design/methodology/approach – The study uses multiple research methods. It reviews and analyzes GB Sixteen Decision texts and feminist literature, uses survey method to collect data from Grameen Bank micro borrowers in 2011 and uses secondary data. Main Findings : This study still finds the gender equality issues exist in the Grameen Bank Sixteen Decisions texts and the Sixteen Decisions campaign strategies for women borrowers’ empowerment especially due to the issue of dowry. Policy Recommendation: This critical analysis is very important to empower Grameen Bank women borrowers because the campaign should be made more effective in addressing women’s issues like dowry-less marriage. Grameen Bank should revise the Sixteen Decisions texts and support borrowers in their anti-dowry and anti-teen age marriage campaign in Bangladesh. 17. Tenhunen, S. (2008). The gift of money: rearticulating tradition and market economy in rural West Bengal. Modern Asian Studies, 42(5), 1035-1055. Motivation and objective : This article examines the rise of dowry system injanta, a West Bengali village in the Bankura district, where the dowry payments are a relatively new phenomenon. The oldest generation in Janta had experienced times when no demands for money or other gifts had been made during marriage arrangements, but since the 1950S huge dowry payments have become the central financial transactions in the region. In addition to oral history interviews on dowry  practices, the author draws from his research on the changes in caste, gender and class relationships in the village. Findings : The gift of money does not merely represent class and economic identities, rather, its intr oduction is connected to a reconstruction of gender and caste identities as well. The article demonstrates how the giving of money has influenced other categories of gifts, while the market logic has drawn from cultural considerations. Yet, money is not the only agent in the process; gifts are essentially about constructing social and cultural identities: the interconnected domains of gender, kinship, caste and class. The introduction of the monetary gift has made it possible to make connections and set a price on different aspects of personhood facilitating and intensifying the connections between different discourses on personhood. 18. Shenk, M. K. (2007). Dowry and public policy in contemporary India. Human Nature, 18(3), 242-263. Motivation and objective :. This paper argues that a functionalist perspective on dowry could lead to improved dowry policy, and that an approach based in human behavioral ecology (HBE) is uniquely suited to this task. Design/methodology/approach – The author develop a behavioral ecology model of Indian dowry and test it with quantitative and qualitative data Main Findings : The author conclude that if dowry legislation is to achieve broad support or bring about effective social change, it must address and support the positive motivations for and effects of dowry and take a targeted approach to dowry violence, which is not uniformly distributed across regions, castes, or social 19. Rao, V. P., & Rao, V. N. (1980). The dowry system in Indian marriages: attitudes, expectations and practices. International Journal of Sociology of the Family, 99-113.. Motivation and objective :The study examined the students’ expectations of dowry for persons with different educational background, their attitudes and feelings about the dowry system, and the practices of dowry payments in immediate and kin families Design/methodology/approach – The questionnaire method was used to collect data from a sample of 585 college students from  India Main Findings The study revealed that the average dowry expectation were not consistent With the number of years of education but were in line with the prestige of education. Non-Hindus, metropolitan residents, high socioeconomic status students, and medical students expected higher dowry than their counterparts. The majority of the respondents considered dowry unimportant in settling a marriage and felt that the present dowry system should be discontinued. However, most of the respondents’ brothers received dowry while their families gave dowry to their sisters. The kin families also practiced dowry payment at the time of marriage. The students seemed equalitarian in terms of control over the dowry as most believed that both husband and wife should decide how to spend it. Inconsistency in the attitudes are also observed as three-fourths of the sample considered dowry unimportant in the settlement of a marriage but nearly one-third of the males and 40 per cent of their parents expected to receive dowry when the respondents got married. 20. Freed, R. S., & Freed, S. A. (1989). Beliefs and practices resulting in female deaths and fewer females than males in India. Population and Environment, 10(3), 144-161. Motivation and objective:. A preference for sons and the low status of females are implicated in the preponderance of males over females as reported in each census of India from the first one taken in the 19th century. A number of cultural practices, some of which are quite ancient, are involved in this such as sexual imbalance and dowry murder. This discussion is sees the determinants of female deaths in India. Design/methodology/approach – This discussion is based both on 19th and 20th century sources and on fieldwork conducted in the North Indian village of Shanti Nagar in 1958–59 and 1977–78. Findings : It is found that dowry act as one of the determinants that resulted in female deaths which is more commonly known as Dowry Murder Policy Recommendation: The modern Government of India has s ought to abolish dowry which would, presumably, put an end to dowry murder.