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

Author

Listed:
  • Jeremy Greenwood

    (Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, USA)

  • Nezih Guner

    (Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and Barcelona GSE, Spain)

  • Georgi Kocharkov

    (Department of Economics, University of Konstanz, Germany)

  • Cezar Santos

    (Department of Economics, University of Mannheim, Germany)

Abstract

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 vis-à-vis the college educated. Additionally, assortative mating has risen; i.e., people are more likely to marry someone of the same educational level today than in the past. 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. The role of technological progress in the household sector and shifts in the wage structure for explaining these facts is gauged.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeremy Greenwood & Nezih Guner & Georgi Kocharkov & Cezar Santos, 2012. "Technology and the Changing Family: A Unified Model of Marriage, Divorce, Educational Attainment and Married Female Labor-Force Participation," Working Paper Series of the Department of Economics, University of Konstanz 2012-21, Department of Economics, University of Konstanz.
    • Handle: RePEc:knz:dpteco:1221
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Assortative mating; education; married female labor supply; household production; marriage and divorce; minimum distance estimation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J17 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Value of Life; Foregone Income
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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