The marriage squeeze and the rise in informal marriage in Brazil

Abstract

Around the world, populations have experienced shortages of one sex or the other at marriageable ages, as a result of mortality declines. The solutions to this problem vary with the cultural context. Declines in the spousal age difference and increases in dowry payments (India) and polygamy (Africa) are two adjustments to a disequilibrium in the marriage market. We hypothesize that in Brazil the marriage market finds its balance by "recycling" men through highly unstable informal unions. Using census and 1984 survey data, we establish the relationship between a marriage squeeze and the increase in informal marriage. Census data and a competing-risks analysis of marriage choice provide evidence that a marriage squeeze has affected both the chances of marrying at all and the type of marriage entered.

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