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For Better or For Worse? State-Level Marital Formation and Risk Sharing

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  • Ralph Chami
  • Gregory Hess

Abstract

Why do some U.S. states have higher levels of marital formation than others? This paper introduces an economic model wherein a state’s representative individual may choose to marry in order to diversify his or her idiosyncratic income risk. The paper demonstrates that such a diversification motive is enhanced for some utility functions when a state’s level of undiversifiable risk becomes larger, and when a state’s initial income is lower. A test of the model’s predictions, using cross-sectional data for the 50 U.S. states, provides some suggestive evidence for a risk sharing motive in marriage formation and joint spouse labor participation. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2005

Suggested Citation

  • Ralph Chami & Gregory Hess, 2005. "For Better or For Worse? State-Level Marital Formation and Risk Sharing," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 367-385, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:reveho:v:3:y:2005:i:4:p:367-385
    DOI: 10.1007/s11150-005-4940-2
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gregory D. Hess, 2004. "Marriage and Consumption Insurance: What's Love Got to Do with It?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 112(2), pages 290-318, April.
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    7. Grossbard,Shoshana A. (ed.), 2003. "Marriage and the Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521891431, January.
    8. Del Negro, Marco, 2002. "Asymmetric shocks among U.S. states," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 273-297, March.
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    11. Gregory D. Hess & Kwanho Shin, 1999. "Risk sharing of disaggregate macroeconomic and idiosyncratic shocks," Working Papers (Old Series) 9915, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
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    13. Ralph Chami & Gregory Hess, 2005. "For Better or For Worse? State-Level Marital Formation and Risk Sharing," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 367-385, December.
    14. Jonathan Gruber, 2000. "Is Making Divorce Easier Bad for Children? The Long Run Implications of Unilateral Divorce," NBER Working Papers 7968, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Hess, Gregory D. & Shin, Kwanho, 1998. "Intranational business cycles in the United States," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(2), pages 289-313, April.
    16. Grossbard,Shoshana A. (ed.), 2003. "Marriage and the Economy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521814546, January.
    17. Hess, Gregory D. & Shin, Kwanho, 2000. "Risk sharing by households within and across regions and industries," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(3), pages 533-560, June.
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    19. Cochrane, John H, 1991. "A Simple Test of Consumption Insurance," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(5), pages 957-976, October.
    20. Mace, Barbara J, 1991. "Full Insurance in the Presence of Aggregate Uncertainty," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(5), pages 928-956, October.
    21. Mario J Crucini & Gregory D. Hess, 1999. "International and Intranational Risk Sharing," CESifo Working Paper Series 227, CESifo.
    22. Lupton, J. & Smith, J.P., 1999. "Marriage, Assets, and Savings," Papers 99-12, RAND - Labor and Population Program.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Cited by:

    1. Ralph Chami & Gregory Hess, 2005. "For Better or For Worse? State-Level Marital Formation and Risk Sharing," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 3(4), pages 367-385, December.
    2. Martin Halla & Johann Scharler, 2012. "Marriage, Divorce, and Interstate Risk Sharing," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 114(1), pages 55-78, March.
    3. Filippo Pericoli & Luigi Ventura, 2012. "Family dissolution and precautionary savings: an empirical analysis," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 10(4), pages 573-595, December.
    4. Lukach, R. & Plasmans, J.E.J., 2002. "Measuring Knowledge Spillovers using Patent Citations : Evidence from the Belgian Firm's Data," Other publications TiSEM d78bf59a-e0ff-4451-86b9-1, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Wataru Kureishi & Midori Wakabayashi, 2013. "What motivates single women to save? the case of Japan," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 681-704, December.
    6. Christopher Brown & Randall Kesselring, 2006. "Declining marriage ratios of young black women: Testing alternative economic hypotheses," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 33(4), pages 27-48, March.
    7. Stephen Shore, 2015. "The co-movement of couples’ incomes," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(3), pages 569-588, September.
    8. Pierfederico Asdrubali & Simone Tedeschi & Luigi Ventura, 2020. "Household risk‐sharing channels," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 11(3), pages 1109-1142, July.
    9. Nzinga Broussard & Ralph Chami & Gregory Hess, 2015. "(Why) Do self-employed parents have more children?," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 297-321, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    consumption insurance; marriage; J12; D1; E21;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth

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