Income Shocks, Bride Price and Child Marriage in Turkey

This paper investigates the impact of income shocks and bride price on early marriage in Turkey. Weather provide an exogenous source variation household through agricultural production. A decrease rainfall observed over 9 months period corresponding to growing season is found negatively affect both production returns for majority crops vegetables. Data weather are merged with individual level data from Turkish Demographic Health Surveys 1998 2013. The practice bride-price, still vivid many regions country, may incentives parents marry their daughter earlier, when faced a negative shock. In addition, marriages precipitated by present specific features (endogamy, age education difference between spouses). To study role payments bride's parents, we interact our measure province-level indicator high prevalence bride-price. We find that girls living provinces bride-price exposed aged 12-14 (resp. 12-17) have 28% 20%) higher probability be married before 15 18). Such women also more likely give birth first child 18 those who religiously first, civil ceremony delayed 2 average. Our results suggest girl participates strategies aimed at mitigating contemporary