We investigate whether female early marriage is a conduit for the transmission of social norms, specifically norms relating to gender roles and rights within the household. We exploit differences in the age at menarche between sisters as an exogenous source of variation in marriage age. This approach allows us to control for beliefs and attitudes that are transmitted from parents to children. Using a sample of unmarried adolescents in Bangladesh, we first show that the timing of onset of menstruation has no direct effect on adolescent attitudes on attitudes towards gender norms. Yet we find that early marriage increases agreement with statements supportive of gender bias in the allocation of resources, and worsens the quality of a woman's post-marital social network. We also find evidence suggesting that schooling is a complement and the quality of the social network a substitute of later marriage in terms of their effects on attitudes towards traditional gender norms.

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This study examined the nature and correlates of child marriage in eight villages in climate-affected coastal Bangladesh using a mixed-methods approach: focus group discussions and in-depth qualitative interviews of female victims of child marriage as well as quantitative data collected using structured interviews of households. More than two-thirds of the qualitative survey respondents had encountered at least one event of natural disaster before marriage. Quantitative data confirmed significantly higher exposure to flood and river erosion among the coastal population. The quantitative data also suggested a positive association between shocks related to climate events and the incidence of child marriage, while the qualitative data indicated multiple themes related to the causes of child marriage, such as economic vulnerability, coping with risk and patriarchal norms. Yet the qualitative study respondents did not directly refer to natural disasters and climate changes when narrating their marital histories. The qualitative and quantitative evidence does not suggest that dowry-related factors are leading to early marriage. Rather, child marriage appears to be a coping strategy adopted by households in response to their increased vulnerability to natural disasters.

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. Abstract We investigate donor-beneficiary relationships in participatory development programs, where (i) communities are heterogeneous and dominated by the local elite, (ii) the elite strategically propose a project to the donor, knowing that the latter has imperfect knowledge of the needs of the target population. We analyze how changes in the donor's outside option or information about the needs of the target population affect elite capture. Our central, paradoxical result is that a more attractive outside option, or a higher quality of donor's information may end up encouraging the local elite to propose a project that better matches their own preference rather than the preference of the grassroots. Moreover, in the case where the noise in the donor's information follows a normal distribution, we find that a better outside option generally decreases elite capture but improved information about the needs of the target population is likely to increase elite capture. Terms of use: Documents in EconStor may

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