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Marriage payments are conventionally explained by economists as resulting from the operation of market forces. Characteristically, this type of explanation rests on the assumption that the individuals concerned do not behave strategically. When strategic behavior is posited, parents are able to anticipate the perverse effects of high brideprices on their daughter's happiness and on the probability of break-up of her marriage. As a result, brideprices may be set at levels lower than those justified by the brides' relative scarcity in the marriage market. Using both quantitative and qualitative evidence, such a strategic approach is tested on the basis of original data collected in the Senegal river valley. (c) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A simple linear programming model of representative smallholder households is used to investigate the sources of relative scarcity of labor and land in Malawi. The paradox of on-farm labor shortages on small landholdings can be explained by the multiple constraints smallholders face. These multiple constraints, including lack of finance, concerns for food security, and others, lead to suboptimal allocations of household resources. In turn, the low returns to labor and land, contribute to household food insecurity and a vicious cycle of poverty. The findings of the paper provide a clear signal to policymakers and research and extension institutions that these constraints are all linked, and addressing one cannot be effective without addressing the others.

It is hypothesized in this paper that as the relative cost of food increases, labor supply in agriculture declines and, ceteris paribus , the real wage in agriculture will increase. This hypothesis was tested by using data drawn from Japan for the period 1885 to 1920 and Egypt for the period 1950 to 1974. The results of the empirical analysis confirmed the hypothesis. Thus, recent activities by farmers in labor-abundant less developed nations to mechanize their operations may be partly due to increased labor costs, rising real wage, brought about by the relative scarcity of food.