Informal institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa: is teenage marriage an obstacle to stronger economic growth?

While economic literature has extensively examined the impact of formal institutions on economic growth, the role of informal institutions, particularly early marriage, remains understudied. This study fills this gap by analysing panel data from 2002 to 2022 for 43 sub-Saharan African countries. Using a system of simultaneous equations, the results of the estimates obtained using the two-step generalised method of moments (two-step system GMM) show that early marriage has no significant direct effect on economic growth. However, it has a significant impact on key determinants of growth, such as female entrepreneurship, women’s unpaid domestic work, maternal mortality, and population growth. These channels suggest that the negative impact of early marriage on growth is indirect but substantial. By increasing women’s domestic burden, reducing their economic participation and worsening their health, early marriage hinders long-term development prospects. The article concludes by recommending policy measures, including improving access to education for girls, developing sex education, and enforcing legislation to discourage adolescent marriage, in order to mitigate its socio-economic effects and promote inclusive growth.