Child Marriage Bans and Female Schooling and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from Natural Experiments in 17 Low- and Middle-Income Countries
American Economic Journal: Economic Policy · 2022 · Nicholas L. Wilson
中文摘要
我采用双重差分方法，利用17个中低收入国家在1995年至2012年间禁止童婚的次国家层面空间与队列变异，使用超过25万名女性受访者的样本，测度童婚禁令对女性受教育程度和就业的影响。基于全部研究样本的结果表明，将最低法定结婚年龄提高至18岁提高了初婚年龄、初次生育年龄以及就业的可能性。在城市地区，禁令还减少了童婚并提高了受教育程度。禁令的效应在农村地区、在禁令实施前最低法定结婚年龄较低的国家、对禁令时间暴露较短的队列，以及在减少略低于18岁的婚姻方面通常较小，这与执法不完善相符。（JEL I21, J12, J13, J16, J18, K38, O15）
Abstract
I measure the effect of child marriage bans on female educational attainment and employment using a difference-in-differences approach employing subnational spatial and cohort variation in a sample of over 250,000 female respondents from 17 low- and middle-income countries banning child marriage between 1995 and 2012. My results using the full study sample suggest that raising the minimum legal age of marriage to 18 increased age at marriage, age at first birth, and the likelihood of employment. In urban areas, the bans also reduced child marriage and increased educational attainment. Effects of the bans typically were smaller in rural areas, in countries with a lower pre-ban minimum legal age at marriage, for cohorts with lower temporal exposure to the ban, and for reducing marriage at ages just below 18, consistent with imperfect enforcement. (JEL I21, J12, J13, J16, J18, K38, O15)