Marriage Laws and Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa

摘要

Many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are highly polygynous. The percentage of married men in polygynous unions ranges from 10.2 in Malawi to 55.6 in Cameroon. Polygynous countries are poorer than similar nonpo-lygynous countries, and are characterized by higher fertility, higher spousal age gaps, and lower savings (Tertilt, 2005).