Common Law Marriage and Teen Births

Abstract

Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the interested public. Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E SIZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author.IZA Discussion Paper No. 9198 July 2015 ABSTRACTCommon Law Marriage and Teen Births * Using microdata from Current Population Survey Fertility supplements 1990-2010 we examine whether Common Law Marriage (CLM) laws in the US affect teen birth rates. CLM effects are identified through cross-state and time variation, as four states repealed the law over the period of study. We find that in the states where CLM laws were first available but then repealed the odds that teens would become new mothers increased, with a larger increase among young black teens. When we include dummies for CLM at various times around the timing of the repeal, it turns out that the likelihood of becoming a mother is most affected by availability of CLM between 1 and 4 years prior to the repeal. There is a small negative effect of CLM on older women becoming mothers. To the extent that they reduce teen births CLM laws are socially desirable and worthy of further study.JEL Classification: J12, J13, K36

Should common law marriage be abolished?

“…Four states fairly recently repealed laws recognizing common law marriage (Ohio in 1991, Idaho in 1996, Georgia in 1997, and Pennsylvania in 2005) [5]. Common law marriage does not require a marriage certificate or ceremony.…”

“…However, it is certainly possible that factors that led to increases in couple formation may also have pushed states to repeal common law marriage [5]. One of these factors may be social norms that are increasingly tolerant of cohabitation and accepting of an egalitarian division of labor within the household.…”

“…She also thanks Anne Laferrere for comments. Previous work of the author together with Victoria Vernon contains a large number of background references for the material presented here and has been used extensively in all major parts of this article [1], [5], [6].…”

Family and Health over the Past Decade: Review of Selected Studies and Areas of Future Inquiry

“…Their work found that greater employment among female teenagers and men aged 20–24 was associated with higher teen birth rates, especially among disadvantaged youth. In another study, Grossbard and Vernon ( 2017 ) probed the effects of common law marriage (CLM) on teen births, using the Current Population Survey’s fertility supplements from 1990 to 2010 and vital statistics data. Comparing earlier-life childbearing in states that eliminated CLM with states that did not, the authors found a small positive effect of CLM elimination on teen births, but only among teens aged 15–17.…”