TY - JOUR
T1 - The economics of female genital cutting
AU - Chesnokova, Tatyana
AU - Vaithianathan, Rhema
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - The practice of female genital cutting (FGC) has a long history in Africa and it is thought that over 130 million females alive today have undergone the practice. In this paper, we model FGC as a pre-marital investment. We show how the rat-race nature of the marriage market may result in inefficiently high equilibrium levels of FGC. We argue that in this case, regulation results in a (potential) Pareto improvement and that even weak regulation can be effective in eradicating FGC.
AB - The practice of female genital cutting (FGC) has a long history in Africa and it is thought that over 130 million females alive today have undergone the practice. In this paper, we model FGC as a pre-marital investment. We show how the rat-race nature of the marriage market may result in inefficiently high equilibrium levels of FGC. We argue that in this case, regulation results in a (potential) Pareto improvement and that even weak regulation can be effective in eradicating FGC.
KW - Africa
KW - female genital cutting
KW - marriage
KW - pre-marital investment
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77955248843&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.2202/1935-1682.2565
DO - 10.2202/1935-1682.2565
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77955248843
SN - 1935-1682
VL - 10
JO - B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy
JF - B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis and Policy
IS - 1
M1 - 64
ER -