Achievement

SISTERS, SCHOOLING, AND SPOUSAL SEARCH: EVIDENCE FROM SOUTH ASIA In standard theories of the family, sibling competition for parental resources has lasting effects into adulthood. IGERT trainee Tom Vogl studies how sibling competition in the marriage market affects women's outcomes in South Asia. If a family has multiple girls, parents reduce the reservation quality for their older daughter's groom and rush her marriage to allow time to marry off her younger sisters. Because girls leave school when they marry and face limited earnings opportunities when they reach adulthood, the number of sisters has consequences on wellbeing over the lifecycle. Data from four large South Asian countries show that the gender of a girl’s next-youngest sibling affects her age at marriage, with younger sisters causing earlier marriage. Among adult women, younger sisters cause earlier school-leaving, lower literacy, lower spousal education, and (marginally) lower household economic status.