We develop and estimate an empirical collective matching model with endogenous marriage formation, participation, and labor supply decisions. The sharing rule in our collective matching model arises endogenously as a transfer that clears the marriage market. With information on at least two independent marriage markets, incorporating matching in the collective model allows us to identify the sh...

The United States shows striking racial and ethnic differences in marriage patterns. Compared to both white and Hispanic women, black women marry later in life, are less likely to marry at all, and have higher rates of marital instability. Kelly Raley, Megan Sweeney, and Danielle Wondra begin by reviewing common explanations for these differences, which first gained momentum in the 1960s (thoug...

This paper provides empirical evidence of the influence of adolescent marriage opportunities on female schooling attainment and gives predictions of the impact for imposing universal age-of-consent laws. Using data from rural Bangladesh, we explore the commonly cited hypotheses that women attain less schooling as a result of social and financial pressure to marry young. We isolate the causal ef...

Applying discrete-time hazard models to person-year data constructed from 1% microdata sample of 2010 Korean Census, we explore how men's education affects their transition to first marriage, and how the relationship between education and marriage has changed across three 10-year birth cohorts of Korean men born from 1946 to 1975. Drawing on Oppenheimer's theory of marriage and review of changi...

In this study we analyze transitions to first marriage in Kyrgyzstan – one of the post-Soviet states of Central Asia. We use retrospective survey data collected in 2011/12 that contain full partnership histories of a representative sample of men and women in that country. We estimate hazard regression models to examine competing risks of arranged and non-arranged marriage among Kyrgyz and Uzbek...

This paper describes Gary Becker’s theoretical models of marriage. At the micro level, these are all rational choice models. At the market level, Becker offers two major types of models: partial equilibrium models based on price theory as taught by Marshall and Friedman; and optimal sorting models based on optimal assignment models. This paper examines some of the possible intellectual influenc...

School dropout and child marriage are interrelated outcomes that have an enormous impact on adolescent girls. However, the literature reveals gaps in the empirical evidence on the link between child marriage and the dropout of girls from school. This study identifies the 'tipping point' school grades in Nepal when the risk of dropout due to marriage is highest, measures the effect of child marr...

It has been argued that rising dowry payments are caused by population growth. According to that explanation, termed the `marriage squeeze', a population increase leads to an excess supply of brides since men marry younger women. As a result, dowry payments rise in order to clear the marriage market. The explanation is essentially static; unmarried brides do not re-enter the marriage market. Th...

Given the recent increase in the prevalence of cohabiting unions in Botswana, this paper speculates on the role this type of union plays in contemporary Botswana family system. The analysis is based on the combination of qualitative and quantitative data from the 2001 Cohabitation Survey and the 1996 Botswana Family Health Survey respectively. The overall results reveal that cohabitation differ...