婚姻支付与农村家庭储蓄率

Marriage Payments and Rural Household Savings

摘要: 以彩礼和嫁妆为代表的婚姻支付广泛存在于中国农村地区，使农村家庭的储蓄具有异质性。本文运用中国家庭追踪调查(CFPS)数据，研究婚姻支付对农村家庭储蓄的影响。研究发现：预期彩礼对有儿子家庭的储蓄率有显著的正向影响，预期嫁妆对家庭储蓄率影响不显著，但进一步分析发现，东部地区预期嫁妆对农村家庭储蓄有显著促进作用。异质性分析揭示了预期彩礼对有两个及以上儿子的农村家庭储蓄率影响更强；女儿的存在将抑制预期彩礼对储蓄率的影响，同时预期彩礼对家庭储蓄率的影响在第一个孩子年龄不同的家庭中不存在显著差异。本文从婚姻支付的角度为理解中国农村家庭储蓄提供了新的解释。

Abstract: The marriage payments represented by bride wealth and dowry exist widely in China’s rural areas, which makes the savings of rural households heterogeneous. Using the data of China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this paper studies the impact of marriage payment on rural household savings. The results show that expected bride wealth has a significant positive effect on the savings rate of families with sons, while expected dowry has no significant effect on the savings rate. However, further analysis shows that the expected dowry in the eastern region has a significant effect on rural household savings. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that expected bride wealth has a stronger effect on saving rate of rural families with two or more sons. The presence of daughters will dampen the impact of expected bride wealth on savings rates. Moreover, the effect of expected bride wealth on household savings rate is not significantly different among families with different ages of the first child. This paper provides a new explanation for the understanding of rural household savings in China from the perspective of marriage payment.