BACKGROUND Marriage histories are a valuable data source for investigating nuptiality. While researchers typically acknowledge the problems associated with their use, it is unknown to what extent these problems occur and how marriage analyses are affected. OBJECTIVE This paper seeks to investigate the quality of marriage histories by measuring levels of misreporting, examining the characteris...

This paper examines the role of relationship skills in determining life cycle outcomes in education, labor and marriage markets. We posit a two-factor model with human capital and “relationship” or “partnering” skill. Relationship skill is understood in our framework as the ability to maintain long-term relationships, both in the formal job market and the home sector. Using a Mincer-Jovanovic (...

vi Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Background 1 Study objectives 2 Study setting 3 Methods 3 Chapter 2: Early marriage: Preferences and realities 5 Age at marriage: Girls’ preferences 5 Age at marriage: Parents’ preferences 6 Age at marriage: The reality 7 Chapter 3: Factors underlying early marriage 9 Poverty and the burden of marriage-related expenses 9 Concerns about finding a suitable groom 9 ‘Ev...

Marriage formation is deeply embedded in societal context. This study documents trends towards lower marriage rates and delayed marriage in Europe and the US. Using time series analyses, it shows the relevance of economic and gender context in understanding marriage formation. The study extends previous work by including more countries, a longer time period, and by examining changes in predicto...

BACKGROUND Studies on Europe and the US indicate that marriage has been postponed, cohabitation has increased, and unions are more likely to dissolve. However, cross-national studies documenting these trends have typically studied each transition separately. OBJECTIVE This study aims to simultaneously capture these different partnership trends while examining heterogeneity within countries. Usi...

I examine the effect of marriage penalties in the US income tax system on marital status. I construct a simulated instrument that exploits variation in the tax code over time and between US states to deal with potential endogeneity between the marriage penalty a couple faces and their marital status. I find that a $1000 increase in the marriage penalty faced reduces the probability of marriage ...

Title of dissertation: THE EFFECT OF SAME-SEX MARRIAGE LAWS ON DIFFERENT-SEX MARRIAGE: EVIDENCE FROM THE NETHERLANDS Mircea Ştefan Trandafir, Doctor of Philosophy, 2009 Dissertation directed by: Professor Judith K. Hellerstein Department of Economics It has long been argued that the legalization of same-sex marriage would have a negative impact on marriage. My dissertation examines what happene...

On 3 December 1996, a Hawaiian state court upheld the legalization of same-sex marriage, although the next day the presiding judge set the ruling aside pending the outcome of an appeal by the state. This ruling rekindled fears that exist regarding the potential legalization of same-sex marriage throughout the United States. To answer concerns regarding same-sex marriage, I will examine several ...

I expand Gary Becker’s market analysis of marriage behavior to derive a set of new implications about marriage and education. In my model, people can make college and career investments to improve their income and marriage prospects before they enter the marriage market. In the overlapping-generations marriage market, men are characterized by income, and women are characterized by income and re...