Will You Marry Me, Later? Age-of-Marriage Laws and Child Marriage in Mexico

We examine the impact of raising the minimum age of marriage to 18 years old in Mexico. Using a difference-in-differences model that takes advantage of the staggered adoption of this reform across states, we find a large reduction in the number of registered child marriages. However, we find no effe...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Bellés-Obrero, Cristina, Lombardi, María
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión aceptada para publicación
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:España
Institución:Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC)
Repositorio:DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC
OAI Identifier:oai:digital.csic.es:10261/377488
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10261/377488
https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85146349508
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Child marriage
Marriage laws
Fertility
Schooling
Descripción
Sumario:We examine the impact of raising the minimum age of marriage to 18 years old in Mexico. Using a difference-in-differences model that takes advantage of the staggered adoption of this reform across states, we find a large reduction in the number of registered child marriages. However, we find no effect on school attendance or early fertility rates. We provide evidence that this is driven by a substitution of formal marriage for informal unions. This suggests that when informal unions are a viable option for young couples, age-of-marriage reforms are not enough to prevent early unions and their negative consequences.