Technology and the Changing Family: A Unified Model of Marriage, Divorce, Educational Attainment and Married Female Labor-Force Participation

Arbeitspapier

Marriage has declined since 1960, with the drop being bigger for non-college educated individuals versus college educated ones. Divorce has increased, more so for the non-college educated. Additionally, positive assortative mating has risen. Income inequality among households has also widened. A unified model of marriage, divorce, educational attainment and married female labor-force participation is developed and estimated to fit the postwar U.S. data. Two underlying driving forces are considered: technological progress in the household sector and shifts in the wage structure. The analysis emphasizes the joint role that educational attainment, married female labor-force participation, and assortative mating play in determining income inequality.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 8831

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; General Aggregative Models: Neoclassical ; Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse ; Time Allocation and Labor Supply ; Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
• Subject: assortative mating ; education ; married female labor supply ; household production ; marriage and divorce ; inequality

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Greenwood, Jeremy ; Guner, Nezih ; Kocharkov, Georgi ; Santos, Cezar
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2015

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/108721
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:44 AM CET