The globalisation of marriage markets (Opinion, Page A20)

In today’s edition of The Straits Times, there was an article contribution by Ms Li Wenchao, a PhD student and Assistant Professor Yi Junjian, both from the Department of Economics at NUS Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, which explained the causes and consequences of cross-border marriages. They elaborated on “global hypergamy”, where marriage migrants are mostly women who move from underdeveloped areas to marry wealthier men abroad, showing a clear gender asymmetry. Based on their case study on Hong Kong, the authors tentatively concluded that global hypergamy would result in a new pattern of regional and gender inequality in the marriage market. They felt that as a typical destination country for cross-border marriages, Singapore would observe a rise in gender inequality along with the growing popularity of such marriages.

The article is part of a monthly series “Ask: NUS Economists” by the NUS Department of Economics. Each month, a panel will address a topical issue.

Click here to read the article.

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