Economics of Bride-Price and Dowry

Economics of Bride-Price and Dowry Rita Bhandari Sambrani Shreekant Sambrani AN immediate reaction to Indira Rajaraman's (1983) analysis of the transition from bride-price to dowry is that this is a subject worthy of urgent and extensive field investigation, as she rightly stresses. Even in the absence of such studies, the analysis under reference raises several questions, which could be discussed in view of admittedly casual, impressionistic, evidence. Two sets of the more important concerns are : (1) How extensive is the phenomenon of transition from bride-price to dowry? Is it possible to deal with it at such broad levels of disaggregation as organised and unorganised sectors, as attempted by Indira Rajaraman? (2) Is her framework of analysis adequate? Can this transition be sufficiently explained on the basis of economics alone?