To Marry Or Not To Marry? A Behavioral Perspective

Approximately 39,000 children are married every day (Unicef, 2013) and pushed further into poverty and despair. In developing countries such as South Asia, tribal leaders can decide marriages, with parents or children having no say in the matter, robbing girls of their future as early as the age of 13. Commonly thought of as a developing world issue, early or child marriages is a practice seen across the world, affecting girls disproportionately. The Tahirih Justice Center, a non-profit advocacy organization, finds that child marriage persists across the US, even today, legally through parental or judicial consent for children under the age of 18.  Le Strat et al, (2011) show that as many as 8.9% of women were married as children in the United States in 2011.

By definition, an early marriage or a child marriage is a marriage before the age of 18, the common legal age for marriages across the world. At the age of 18, individuals are usually considered to be legally an adult, having completed basic 12 years of schooling and able to earn a living wage. Child marriages can have harmful consequences for the individuals involved. Girls that marry underage face many hardships including family instability, incomplete education, lack of work opportunities, higher risk of domestic violence and deteriorating mental and physical health.  As devastating as the outcomes of early marriages are, it is imperative to understand the behavioral practice and its effects on economic decisions of the household.