ESSAYS ON POLITICAL ECONOMY OF GENDER AND SOCIAL NORMS IN INDIA

The first essay focuses on intra-household bargaining between female-in-laws in India. Specifically, it studies the impact of a daughter-in-law’s education on household division of labor between female in-laws in multi-generational households. Demographers studying the role of education on household bargaining claim that an increase in a daughter-in-law’s education and earning potential, vis-à-vis the mother-in-law, is likely to decrease her relative share of household work. On the other hand, patriarchal bargain theory claims that the higher educational status of a daughter-in-law is considered potentially destabilizing in traditional households, thus compelling her to compensate by increasing her relative share of household work. This essay examines these competing theories empirically using Time-Use data from India. Findings reject the explanation from demographic studies and support the patriarchal bargain theory. This study adds further layers to this analysis by differentiating outcomes by caste, class, and religion. Findings show that these institutions mediate effects on bargaining and the division of housework between female-in-laws in multigenerational households. This study suggests that the relationship between patriarchal norms, education, and bargaining power is more nuanced and that social institutions like caste, class, and religion can modify or alter this relationship.The second essay addresses the persistence of dowry in contemporary India. This illegal but socially accepted practice continues to persist despite modernization. This paper draws upon and bridges economic and interdisciplinary South Asian scholarship to study the persistence of dowry in a comprehensive fashion. To do so, this paper uses primary qualitative data on individual preferences, decision-making processes, and the institutional environment that I collected through in-depth interviews from multiple locations in India. This study contributes to scholarship in two specific ways. First, it proposes a data-driven definition of dowry that challenges the definitions used in existing economic literature and shows that dowry is comprised of three components: demand, gift, and display. Each of these components serves one or more purposes, thus emphasizing the fact that these components and their purposes are inextricably intertwined. The second contribution is an evolutionary analysis of the process through which dowry has persisted in India. This paper shows that gender as a social institution shapes individual preferences and decision-making processes in the marriage market, giving asymmetric power to the groom’s side over the bride’s side, and dowry emerges as an outcome of this asymmetry. Further, dowry practices influence the evolution of gender norms, reinforcing the asymmetric power between the bride and groom’s families. Thus gender norms and preferences coevolve in the marriage market and together contribute to the persistence of dowry.The third essay presents my insights as an economist conducting qualitative research on the complex socio-economic phenomenon of dowry. This essay is aimed at informing researchers in economics about effective strategies for qualitative data collection in similar research settings. To do this, the paper presents an account of my day-to-day experiences as a researcher doing in-depth interviews at multiple sites in India. It details the various stages of the data collection process, i.e., sampling, interview setting, and interviews as well as enumerates the challenges that open-ended interviewing poses such as insider-outsider positionality, and power dynamics between the researcher and the subject. I present my reflections on dealing with challenges through fieldwork planning, interview preparation, and experiences as well as the lessons that I learned during the process. Further, this paper also engages with debates around the usefulness of qualitative research in economics, particularly the key criticisms regarding validity, objectivity, quality, and generalizability of the data and the findings.