Abstract

Women's College Decisions: How Much Does Marriage Matter?

Suqin Ge
Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

March 6, 2008

Abstract:
This paper investigates the sequential college attendance decisions of young women and quantifies the impact of marriage expectations on their decisions to attend and graduate from college. A dynamic choice model of college attendance, labor supply, and marriage is formulated and structurally estimated using panel data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79). The model is used to simulate the effects of no marriage benefits and finds that the predicted college attendance rate would drop from 61% to 56%. Using the estimated model, the college attendance behavior for a younger cohort (data taken from the NLSY97) is predicted and used to validate the behavioral model.

Keywords: college, marriage, assortative mating, NLSY, women

JEL Classifications: J12, J22, I21

Working Paper Series

Date posted: April 10, 2009 ; Last revised: April 10, 2009

Suggested Citation

Ge, Suqin, Women's College Decisions: How Much Does Marriage Matter? (March 6, 2008). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1376404

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Contact Information

Suqin Ge (Contact Author)

Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University ( email )

Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, VA 24061
United States