Marriage Law Reforms and Infant Health: Evidence from Indonesia

This study aims to assess the impact of changes in marriage legislation, particularly the increase in the minimum marriage age for women, on child marriage and infant mortality in Indonesia. The research employs a Fuzzy Regression Discontinuity Design (Fuzzy RDD) approach to evaluate the effects of age discontinuities resulting from the legislative changes. The findings reveal that raising the minimum marriage age can effectively reduce child marriage rates. This study also identifies that babies born to mothers married at a younger age face a higher risk of infant mortality compared to those born to mothers married at an older age.