On the Economics of Marriage. A Theory of Marriage, Labor and Divorce

Abstract

Tables 3.1 Traditional labor supply theory vs. general theory of marriage 4.1 Aspects of marriage-hypothesis numbers 6.1 Means and standard deviations-white women ages 25-34, U.S. cities in 1930 6.2 Regressions of labor force participation-married women ages 25-34, U.S. cities in 1930 6.3 Regressions of net labor force participation-married women ages 25-34, U.S. cities in 1930 6.4 Definitions, means and standard deviations for various samples, U.S. cities in 1980 6.5 Regressions of participation in the labor force-all women and foreign-born women, U.S. cities in 1980 6.6 Regressions of participation in the labor force-married white women with low education, ages 25-28, U.S. cities, 1980 7.1 Means and definitions of the variables, Israeli couples, 1974 7.2 Regressions of wife's labor force participation, Israeli couples, 1974 8.1 Definitions, means and standard deviations, National Jewish Population Survey, 1972 8.2 Regressions of likelihood of Jewish man marrying exogamously by knowledge of Hebrew 9.1 Ratio of informally married to formally married women, North America, 1974 9.2 Means and standard deviations of socioeconomic indicators, 6 Guatemalan villages, 1974 9.3 Simple correlations with marriage type and female schooling 9.4 Regressions of marriage formality for subsample 1 economics." It was at Chicago that Gary Becker introduced me to the economics of marriage. Friedman, Becker, and others at the University of Chicago-in particular, the late H. Gregg Lewis, Jacob Mincer, T.W. Schultz, and the late George Stigler-built on a foundation acquired at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where I learned economics from excellent teachers such as the late Yoram Ben-Porath, the late Simon Kuznets, Nissan Leviathan, Gur Ofer, and Don Patinkin. These two outstanding institutions, the Hebrew University and the University of Chicago, also allowed me to gain familiarity with the other disciplines that have shaped this book. A double major in economics and sociology at the Hebrew University has encouraged me to continue to combine my interests in both disciplines. At the University of Chicago I had the opportunity to study for a minor degree in anthropology and to take Judaism courses with Moshe Meiselman, a distinguished rabbi and mathematician. Other institutions I would like to acknowledge are the University of Southern California for giving me the opportunity to learn about sex ratios from the late Bill Hodge and to work with demographers Kingsley Davis and David Heer; the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford for creating ideal conditions for writing the basis of this book; San Diego State University for giving me time to write, opportunities to test my ideas on students, and help with manuscript preparation; the Sapir Institute at Tel-Aviv University for giving me my first research grant; and Bar-Ilan University for giving me time to write and creating conditions for cooperation with Shoshana Neuman. I thank Shoshana for letting me use three of our joint papers for this book and for givi...