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Rental markets in everything
Some husbands in western India are renting out their wives to other men, cashing in on a shortage of single women available for marriage, according to a news report Monday.
Atta Prajapati, a farm worker who lives in Gujarat state, leases out his wife Laxmi to a wealthy landowner for $175 US a month, the Times of India reported, citing unidentified police officials. A farm worker earns a monthly minimum wage of around $22. Laxmi is expected to live with the man, look after him and his house, and have sex with him, the report said.
Here is the story. Might we call this temporary polygamy? For the pointer I thank Pablo Halkyard and also SunCraig.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on June 20, 2006 at 07:16 AM in Economics | Permalink
Comments
Can wives rent out their husbands? Or do only wives constitute spousal property?
Posted by: Dan Cole at Jun 20, 2006 8:21:15 AM
Or we could call it 'good' old fashioned pimping, or sex slavery for that matter.
Posted by: britchick at Jun 20, 2006 8:33:17 AM
We might call this slavery.
Posted by: tom s. at Jun 20, 2006 8:34:09 AM
Oops - britchick beat me to it while I was writing my post. What can I say? I'm a slow typist.
Posted by: tom s. at Jun 20, 2006 8:35:51 AM
There is already a market imperfection which exists where a wealthy landlord cannot find a wife while a poor labourer can - I suspect linked to the caste system.
Perhaps India should look at rectifying their caste structure, thus increasing competition for wives and perhaps raising the value of female offspring.
Posted by: Mark at Jun 20, 2006 8:50:42 AM
Mark: this is surely very unfair towards the wealthy landowner. Humph.
Posted by: A Tykhyy at Jun 20, 2006 9:22:55 AM
Rectifying the caste structure is easier said than done. The caste system is not just a system of discrimination as most Westerners see it. It has much deeper roots in religion and culture. In addition, in the past two to three decades it has become a major political platform. The article mentions female infanticide which I think is a more plausible reason. Besides wealth has very little to do with caste. You will find equally wealthy and poor people across all the different castes. What the article does not mention is if the landlord was already married. I am guessing he would be married and she would just be his mistress. It is difficult to generalise anything about India, the cultural and economic systems are vastly different between the states.
Posted by: triya at Jun 20, 2006 9:30:24 AM
I realize when I wrote it that I made a big leap towards blaming it on the caste system (or remnants of it). However, in a culture where I suspect it would be relatively easy for a wealthy man to find a wife, the fact that he would be paying rental fees to acquire one seems to imply some externality restricting his choices.
I suspect it's class, but of course it could be something else. As for caste not being correlated to wealth levels, from my own experience I highly doubt that.
Or maybe the renter is just a crotchety old man with copious nose hair.
Posted by: Mark at Jun 20, 2006 9:43:51 AM
The "Manhattan Madam" charged $700/hr for her prostitutes' services. What a bargain $175/month is in comparison, for a service that includes not only sex but also housekeeping services.
Posted by: Half Sigma at Jun 20, 2006 10:14:21 AM
"Temporary polygamy" would seem to me to suggest some degree of mutual consent. This article describes no such thing. It's some form of servitude, slavery etc.
Is there was some humor intended in the characterization of it as "temporary polygamy?" If so, I don't think it very apt.
Posted by: David Sucher at Jun 20, 2006 10:45:49 AM
This is just feudalism - wealthy landowners, and landless laborers - and sex slavery. Tyler seems to think its funny, and no doubt the landowners do too.
Posted by: Vish Subramanian at Jun 20, 2006 12:01:05 PM
I don't get why the bride's family has to offer a dowry if females are in such short supply.
Wouldn't the scarcity of single women force the groom's family to pay the bride's family?
Posted by: auto at Jun 20, 2006 12:13:12 PM
Not necessarily auto,
You're assuming that a perfect market is in effect tand taht there aren't any other externalities that could be influencing the actions of the families.
I have to admit though, I do find this kind of repulsive.
Posted by: AnonymousOne at Jun 20, 2006 12:53:03 PM
Thanks to their belief in samsara (reincarnation) Indians believe that a person deserves his/her lot in this life because of whatever karma they have accumulated in previous lives. This makes it very difficult to move away from the caste system, since it is inextricably linked with the belief in samsara. Indians believe that people get what they deserve, and if you are born to a low caste then you probably did something to deserve it.
This is probably the greatest hurdle India faces as it attempts to modernize and become richer. As long as people are restricted by the accident of their births then India will continue to suffer from silly problems like wife shortages.
Posted by: Christina at Jun 20, 2006 2:19:51 PM
This will be compounded by the birthrate problems, with boys being born at a much higher rate than girls (often because of selective abortion).
If this runs 120/100 for a couple of decades they will have major social turmoil, or perhaps in 50 years a reversal in which girls become more valuable than boys.
Posted by: save_the_rustbelt at Jun 20, 2006 3:19:05 PM
Hey China, here's a preview of your family planning policy consequences.
Posted by: caveatBettor at Jun 20, 2006 3:33:11 PM
As usual, good enough to s***(, not good enough to marry.
The caste system is coming down - what happens if for some odd reason
the wealthy husband actually wants to marry the temp lower caste spouse?
Posted by: Sandy P at Jun 20, 2006 5:40:28 PM
Vish makes a good point. This is not funny. Empowering women is the answer and proportional representation is a good way to do it.
Posted by: Alan Brown at Jun 21, 2006 4:23:40 PM
"You will find equally wealthy and poor people
across all the different castes." - triya
" Nearly 90 percent of all the poor Indians and 95 percent of all the illiterate Indians are Dalits ["untouchables"]."- http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/06/0602_030602_untouchables.html
Posted by: JR at Jun 21, 2006 6:24:20 PM
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Posted by: levan at Sep 8, 2006 6:14:05 AM
