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Marriage and Divorce since World War II: Analyzing the Role of Technological Progress on the Formation of Households

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Author Info
Jeremy Greenwood
Nezih Guner

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Abstract

Since World War II there has been: (i) a rise in the fraction of time that married households allocate to market work, (ii) an increase in the rate of divorce, and (iii) a decline in the rate of marriage. What can explain this? It is argued here that technological progress in the household sector has saved on the need for labor at home. This makes it more feasible for singles to maintain their own home, and for married women to work. To address this question, a search model of marriage and divorce is developed. Household production benefits from labor-saving technological progress.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 10772.

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Date of creation: Sep 2004
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:10772

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
E13 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Neoclassical
J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
O11 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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Full references

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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Borghans, Lex & ter Weel, Bas & Weinberg, Bruce A., 2005. "People People: Social Capital and the Labor-Market Outcomes of Underrepresented Groups," IZA Discussion Papers 1494, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Greenwood, Jeremy & Guner, Nezih, 2008. "Social Change," IZA Discussion Papers 3485, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Stefania Albanesi & Claudia Olivetti, 2007. "Home production, market production and the gender wage gap: Incentives and expectations," Discussion Papers 0607-10, Columbia University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Shelly Lundberg & Robert A. Pollak, 2007. "The American Family and Family Economics," NBER Working Papers 12908, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. John Knowles, 2007. "Why Are Married Men Working So Much? The Macroeconomics of Bargaining Between Spouses," IZA Discussion Papers 2909, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  6. Nezih Guner & Remzi Kaygusuz & Gustavo Ventura, 2008. "Taxation, aggregates and the household," Working Papers 660, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Zvika Neeman & Andrew F. Newman & Claudia Olivetti, 2006. "Are Working Women Good for Marriage?," Boston University - Department of Economics - Working Papers Series WP2006-039, Boston University - Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  8. Alexis León & Daniele Coen-Pirani & Steven Lugauer, 2008. "The Effect of Household Appliances on Female Labor Force Participation: Evidence from Micro Data," Working Papers 355, University of Pittsburgh, Department of Economics, revised May 2008. [Downloadable!]
  9. Albanesi, Stefania & Olivetti, Claudia, 2007. "Gender Roles and Technological Progress," CEPR Discussion Papers 6352, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. John Knowles, 2005. "Why are Married Men Working So Much?," PIER Working Paper Archive 05-031, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania. [Downloadable!]
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