Brides for sale: Cross-border marriages and female immigration

Arbeitspapier

Every year, a large number of women immigrate as brides from developing countries to developed countries in East Asia. This phenomenon virtually did not exist in the early 1990s, but foreign brides currently comprise 4 to 35 percent of newlyweds in these developed Asian countries. This paper argues that two factors account for this rapid increase in bride importation: the rapid growth of women's educational attainment and a cultural norm that leads to a low net surplus of marriage for educated women. We provide empirical evidence supporting our theoretical model and its implications, using datasets from Japan, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 6458

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Relation of Economics to Other Disciplines ; Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse ; Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers
• Subject: immigration ; marriage ; sex ratio imbalance ; international marriages ; cross-border marriages ; assortative matching ; Internationale Wanderung ; Frauen ; Ehe ; Bildungsniveau ; Brain Drain ; Familienökonomik ; Japan ; Südkorea ; Taiwan ; Singapur

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Kawaguchi, Daiji ; Lee, Soohyung
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2012

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/58785
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-201208065409
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:42 AM CET