An economic model of early marriage

To explain female adolescent marriage patterns around the world, we develop a marriage market model with asymmetric information about prospective marriage partners, and a noisy signal about the bride's quality during an engagement. In equilibrium, there is a negative relationship between the age and perceived quality of women on the marriage market and, consistent with available evidence, older brides make higher net marriage payments. The model also implies path dependence in the evolution of adolescent marriage practices over time and persistent effects on marriage practices from transitory shocks. Model simulations show interventions which increase the opportunity cost of early marriage attenuates the association between bride quality and age, triggering a virtuous cycle of marriage postponement.