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Why do women wait? Matching, wage inequality and incentives for fertility delay

Why do women wait? Matching, wage inequality and incentives for fertility delay
Why do women wait? Matching, wage inequality and incentives for fertility delay
This paper explores the interaction between wage inequality and the marriage and fertility decisions of young women. We develop an equilibrium search model of marriage, divorce, and investment in children that allows for differential timing of fertility. We show how patterns of fertility timing in U.S. data can be explained by the incentives for fertility delay implied by marriage and labor markets. We find that these incentives help explain both the cross-sectional relationship between women's wages and fertility timing and the changes over the past 40 years in married women's fertility timing and labor supply.
marriage, fertility, returns to experience
1094-2025
815-855
Caucutt, E.M.
46b6d4fb-57a8-4e86-82a4-43974e343f93
Guner, N.
144a0b2e-107a-4c31-8ff5-442e2193ad8f
Knowles, J.
8746baa8-b940-41a4-8175-8ca27bed468d
Caucutt, E.M.
46b6d4fb-57a8-4e86-82a4-43974e343f93
Guner, N.
144a0b2e-107a-4c31-8ff5-442e2193ad8f
Knowles, J.
8746baa8-b940-41a4-8175-8ca27bed468d

Caucutt, E.M., Guner, N. and Knowles, J. (2002) Why do women wait? Matching, wage inequality and incentives for fertility delay. Review of Economic Dynamics, 5 (4), 815-855. (doi:10.1006/redy.2002.0190).

Record type: Article

Abstract

This paper explores the interaction between wage inequality and the marriage and fertility decisions of young women. We develop an equilibrium search model of marriage, divorce, and investment in children that allows for differential timing of fertility. We show how patterns of fertility timing in U.S. data can be explained by the incentives for fertility delay implied by marriage and labor markets. We find that these incentives help explain both the cross-sectional relationship between women's wages and fertility timing and the changes over the past 40 years in married women's fertility timing and labor supply.

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More information

Published date: 2002
Keywords: marriage, fertility, returns to experience

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 55062
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/55062
ISSN: 1094-2025
PURE UUID: 27872edb-3cea-4cfb-ac1b-3db9ecc0759d

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Date deposited: 31 Jul 2008
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 10:52

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Contributors

Author: E.M. Caucutt
Author: N. Guner
Author: J. Knowles

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