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Working papers

Contents

For Money Can’t Buy Me Love? The Political Economy of Marriages Over Two Decades in Tamil Nadu, South India

—I. Guérin, A. Natal, C. J. Nordman, G. Venkatasubramanian

DIAL Working Paper No. DT/2024-07, (2024).
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This article explores the multifaceted role of marriages in central Tamil Nadu, India. By drawing on twenty years of ethnographic surveys and three household surveys conducted in 2010, 2016-17, and 2020-21, this paper examines how marriages are both shaped by and constitutive of local political economies. Our data suggest five main findings. Firstly, marriage has undergone significant changes, with fewer cross-cousin marriages and more dowry practices in exogamous unions. Families prefer to marry within similar social circles. Secondly, dowry, once a tradition, now serves to prevent further land fragmentation and symbolises wealth transfer, despite legal reforms aiming at gender equality paradoxically reinforcing dowry traditions. Thirdly, the dowry received by boys depends on the parents’ education expenditures, as if the bride’s parents are somehow sharing in the effort of education. Fourthly, the analysis of determinants of ceremonial gifts points to the same direction, suggesting participants’ solidarity with parents who invest in their children’s education. Lastly, our data reveal, among other things, the role of education in the marriage market, pushing some highly educated men into celibacy while waiting for the ideal partner.

Cite as:
Guérin, I., Natal, A., Nordman, C. J., & Venkatasubramanian, G. (2024). For Money Can’t Buy Me Love? The Political Economy of Marriages Over Two Decades in Tamil Nadu, South India (Working Paper No. DT/2024-07). DIAL. Paris, France.


The Determinants of Trust: Evidence from Rural South India

—A. Hilger, C. J. Nordman.

IZA Discussion Paper No. 13150, (2020).
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Trust and participation in social networks are inherently interrelated. We make use of India’s demonetization policy, an unexpected and unforeseeable exogenous variation, to causally identify the effect of social networks in determining trust. We use first-hand quantitative and qualitative data from rural South India and control for individual characteristics (personality traits, cognitive ability) that could influence network formation and trust, finding that social interactions have a significant effect on trust among men, as well as across castes. Among lower castes, who live in homogeneous neighborhoods and relied on neighbors and employers to cope, extending one’s network lowers trust in neighbors. Among middle castes, who live in more heterogeneous neighborhoods and relied predominantly on other caste members, a larger network size leads to greater trust placed in kin among employees but lesser in neighbors. This paper thus shows that social interactions can foster trust and highlights the importance of clearly defining in- and out-groups in trust measures within highly segregated societies.

Cite as:
Hilger, A., & Nordman, C. J. (2020). The Determinants of Trust: Evidence from Rural South India (Working Paper No. 13150). IZA. Bonn, Germany.