This paper examines the role of consumption smoothing, migration, and marriage in rural India, particularly focusing on the movement of women for marriage. The authors hypothesize that these mobility patterns are driven by implicit inter-household contractual arrangements aimed at mitigating income risks and facilitating consumption smoothing in an environment characterized by information costs and spatially covariant risks. Using longitudinal data from South Indian villages, they find that marriage and migration significantly reduce the variability of household food consumption. Farm households with more variable profits tend to engage in longer-distance marriage and migration. The observed patterns are inconsistent with standard models of marriage or migration, which primarily focus on search costs and static income gains. The study suggests that spatial differences in average returns to skills may not significantly account for population movements within rural India, and that agricultural technical change could alter spatial marriage patterns and the stability of the marriage institution.This paper examines the role of consumption smoothing, migration, and marriage in rural India, particularly focusing on the movement of women for marriage. The authors hypothesize that these mobility patterns are driven by implicit inter-household contractual arrangements aimed at mitigating income risks and facilitating consumption smoothing in an environment characterized by information costs and spatially covariant risks. Using longitudinal data from South Indian villages, they find that marriage and migration significantly reduce the variability of household food consumption. Farm households with more variable profits tend to engage in longer-distance marriage and migration. The observed patterns are inconsistent with standard models of marriage or migration, which primarily focus on search costs and static income gains. The study suggests that spatial differences in average returns to skills may not significantly account for population movements within rural India, and that agricultural technical change could alter spatial marriage patterns and the stability of the marriage institution.