Marriage and divorce
Subtitle: changes and their driving forces
By: Betsey Stevenson, Justin Wolfers
Contributors: Wolfers, Justin; Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
Series: FRBSF working paper -- 2007-03; FRBSF working paper (Online) -- #2007-03.
Publisher: Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
Published: 2007
Place of publication: San Francisco]
Language: eng
Format: [electronic resource] :
Description: 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.
Notes: Title from PDF file (viewed on Aug. 20, 2007).

"February 2007."

Includes bibliographical references.

Also available in print.

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Mode of access: World Wide Web.