Can Bride Price “Purchase” Happiness? Evidence From China

The persistent issue of rising marriage payments in emerging market countries has recently garnered attention. Using the China Labor Dynamics Survey (CLDS), we discovered that bride prices have an inverted U-shaped nonlinear impact on individual subjective happiness, which suggests that the pursuit of happiness may be a pivotal factor propelling the continued escalation of bride prices. We discovered that paying a bride price on the left side of the turning point can provide start-up capital for new families and ensure fair distribution of household responsibilities, thereby facilitating an increase in the subjective happiness of both spouses. However, bride prices exceeding a certain value (about 50,200 USD) not only increase the economic burden on families but also force women to engage in more domestic labor, thereby detrimentally affecting the subjective happiness of both spouses. We also find that happiness “purchased” by bride price is in fact a form of intergenerational exploitation.