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Religion is not a popular target for economic analysis. Yet the economist's tools offer insights into how religious groups compete, deliver social services, and reach out to converts--how religions nurture and deploy market power. Sriya Iyer puts these tools to use in an expansive study of India, one of the world's most religiously diverse nations.

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Religion is not a popular target for economic analysis. Yet the economist's tools offer insights into how religious groups compete, deliver social services, and reach out to converts-how religions nurture and deploy market power. Sriya Iyer puts these tools to use in an expansive study of India, one of the world's most religiously diverse nations.

Religion and sociology --- Social conflict --- Religious aspects. --- India --- Religion --- Economic aspects.

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Zonder onderwerpscode: wereldeconomie, ontwikkelingsproblematiek

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The institution of consanguineous marriage-a marriage contracted between close biological relatives-has been a basic building block of many societies in different parts of the world. This paper argues that the practice of consanguinity is closely related to the practice of dowry, and that both arise in response to an agency problem between the families of a bride and a groom. When marriage contracts are incomplete, dowries transfer control rights to the party with the highest incentives to invest in a marriage. When these transactions are costly however, consanguinity can be a more appropriate response since it directly reduces the agency cost. The paper's model predicts that dowry transfers are less likely to be observed in consanguineous unions. It also emphasizes the effect of credit constraints on the relative prevalence of dowry payment and consanguinity. An empirical analysis using data from Bangladesh delivers robust results consistent with the predictions of the model.

Anthropology --- Culture & Development --- Dependence --- Dowries --- Dowry --- Education --- Education and Society --- Extended Family --- Families --- Finance and Financial Sector Development --- Financial Literacy --- Folklore --- Gender --- Gender and Law --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- History --- Households --- Law and Development --- Marriage --- Marriages --- Partners --- Population and Development --- Population Policies --- Populations --- Power --- Property --- Religion --- Rural Areas --- Social Development --- Social Inclusion and Institutions --- Social Networks --- Societies --- Villages --- Women

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The authors use recent data from the 2006 National Family Health Survey of India to explore the relationship between religion and demographic behavior. They find that fertility and mortality vary not only between religious groups, but also across caste groups. These groups also differ with respect to socio-economic status. The central finding of this paper is that despite their socio-economic disadvantages, Muslims have higher fertility than their Hindu counterparts and also exhibit lower levels of infant mortality (particularly female infant mortality). This effect is robust to the inclusion of controls for non-religious factors such as socio-economic status and area of residence. This result has important policy implications because it suggests that India's problem of "missing women" may be concentrated in particular groups. The authors conclude that religion and caste play a key role in determining the demographic characteristics of India.

Economic status --- Family Health --- Fertility --- Fertility Rate --- Gender --- Gender bias --- Health, Nutrition and Population --- Important policy --- Infant mortality --- Law and Development --- Levels of infant --- Mortality --- Number of children --- Policy implications --- Policy Research --- Population growth --- Population growth rate --- Population Policies --- Progress --- Religious groups --- Respect --- Sex --- Son preference