Marriage and Divorce: Changes and Their Driving Forces

Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Working Paper No. 2007-03

40 Pages Posted: 20 Aug 2007

See all articles by Betsey Stevenson

Betsey Stevenson

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor

Justin Wolfers

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Department of Economics; University of Michigan at Ann Arbor - Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy; The University of Sydney - Discipline of Economics; Brookings Institution - Economic Studies Program; Peterson Institute for International Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute); Kiel Institute for the World Economy

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Date Written: February 2007

Abstract

We document key facts about marriage and divorce, comparing trends through the past 150 years and outcomes across demographic groups and countries. While divorce rates have risen over the past 150 years, they have been falling for the past quarter century. Marriage rates have also been falling, but more strikingly, the importance of marriage at different points in the life cycle has changed, reflecting rising age at first marriage, rising divorce followed by high remarriage rates, and a combination of increased longevity with a declining age gap between husbands and wives. Cohabitation has also become increasingly important, emerging as a widely used step on the path to marriage. Out-of-wedlock fertility has also risen, consistent with declining shotgun marriages. Compared with other countries, marriage maintains a central role in American life. We present evidence on some of the driving forces causing these changes in the marriage market: the rise of the birth control pill and women's control over their own fertility; sharp changes in wage structure, including a rise in inequality and partial closing of the gender wage gap; dramatic changes in home production technologies; and the emergence of the internet as a new matching technology. We note that recent changes in family forms demand a reassessment of theories of the family and argue that consumption complementarities may be an increasingly important component of marriage. Finally, we discuss how these facts should inform family policy debates.

Keywords: marriage, divorce, fertility, cohabitation, remarriage, economics of the family, demography

JEL Classification: D1, H31, I3, J1, K36, N3

Suggested Citation

Stevenson, Betsey and Wolfers, Justin, Marriage and Divorce: Changes and Their Driving Forces (February 2007). Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Working Paper No. 2007-03, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1007827 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1007827

Betsey Stevenson (Contact Author)

University of Michigan at Ann Arbor ( email )

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Justin Wolfers

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