IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aecrev/v107y2017i5p163-67.html

Tying the Double-Knot: The Role of Assets in Marriage Commitment

Author

Listed:
  • Jeanne Lafortune
  • Corinne Low

Abstract

What explains the growing gap in marriage rates between socioeconomic groups? We present a robust stylized fact not previously documented: marriage rates are higher for individuals with more assets. We argue this may be driven by marriage and cohabitation becoming increasingly similar in a number of ways except for the way assets become marital property to be divided upon divorce in marriage while they remain individual property in the case of cohabitation. We propose that ownership of assets may provide "insurance" to the partner making individually costly, but jointly optimal, investments in children, thus raising the value of marriage.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeanne Lafortune & Corinne Low, 2017. "Tying the Double-Knot: The Role of Assets in Marriage Commitment," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(5), pages 163-167, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:107:y:2017:i:5:p:163-67
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20171058
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.p20171058
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/attachments?retrieve=OjRbcPbacTHpavVnqqCaZcwUNkQ403Sw
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/articles/attachments?retrieve=etqz5_N5oHhO_IJfxcwZKG4aQM5wUq8R
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Leora Friedberg, 1998. "Did Unilateral Divorce Raise Divorce Rates? Evidence from Panel Data," NBER Working Papers 6398, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Shelly Lundberg & Robert A. Pollak & Jenna Stearns, 2016. "Family Inequality: Diverging Patterns in Marriage, Cohabitation, and Childbearing," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(2), pages 79-102, Spring.
    3. Ekert-Jaffe, Olivia & Grossbard, Shoshana, 2008. "Does community property discourage unpartnered births?," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 25-40, March.
    4. Maya Rossin-Slater, 2017. "Signing Up New Fathers: Do Paternity Establishment Initiatives Increase Marriage, Parental Investment, and Child Well-Being?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 93-130, April.
    5. Martin Farnham & Lucie Schmidt & Purvi Sevak, 2011. "House Prices and Marital Stability," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 615-619, May.
    6. George A. Akerlof & Janet L. Yellen & Michael L. Katz, 1996. "An Analysis of Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing in the United States," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 111(2), pages 277-317.
    7. Alessandra Voena, 2015. "Yours, Mine, and Ours: Do Divorce Laws Affect the Intertemporal Behavior of Married Couples?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(8), pages 2295-2332, August.
    8. Lena Edlund, 2006. "Marriage: Past, Present, Future?," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 52(4), pages 621-639, December.
    9. Anna Aizer & ASara McLanahan, 2006. "The Impact of Child Support Enforcement on Fertility, Parental Investments, and Child Well-Being," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 41(1).
    10. Stéphane Mechoulan, 2011. "The External Effects of Black Male Incarceration onBlack Females," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 29(1), pages 1-35, January.
    11. Justin Wolfers, 2006. "Did Unilateral Divorce Laws Raise Divorce Rates? A Reconciliation and New Results," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(5), pages 1802-1820, December.
    12. Greg Duncan & Saul Hoffman, 1990. "Welfare benefits, economic opportunities, and out-of-wedlock births among black teenage girls," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 27(4), pages 519-535, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Leslie S. Stratton, 2023. "Marriage Versus Cohabitation: How Specialization and Time Use Differ by Relationship Type," Research in Labor Economics, in: Time Use in Economics, volume 51, pages 187-218, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    2. Fabio Blasutto & Egor Kozlov, 2020. "(Changing) Marriage and Cohabitation Patterns in the US: do Divorce Laws Matter?," 2020 Papers pbl245, Job Market Papers.
    3. Siwan Anderson & Chris Bidner, 2021. "An Institutional Perspective on the Economics of the Family," Discussion Papers dp21-14, Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University.
    4. Goussé, Marion & Leturcq, Marion, 2022. "More or less unmarried. The impact of legal settings of cohabitation on labour market outcomes," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 149(C).
    5. Jeanne Lafortune & Corinne Low, 2017. "Betting the House: How Assets Influence Marriage Selection, Marital Stability, and Child Investments," Documentos de Trabajo 497, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    6. Margarida Madaleno, 2024. "Access to housing credit and marriage: evidence from redlining maps," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 22(4), pages 1397-1422, December.
    7. Denton R. Vaughan & Barbara A. Haley & Aref N. Dajani, 2021. "Ten years later: Self‐sufficiency of welfare mothers before the Great Recession," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(2), pages 184-223, June.
    8. Ya Gao & Rob Alessie & Viola Angelini, 2023. "Parental housing wealth and children’s marriage prospects in China—evidence from CHARLS," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 615-644, June.
    9. Chigavazira, Abraham & Fisher, Hayley & Robinson, Tim & Zhu, Anna, 2019. "The Consequences of Extending Equitable Property Division Divorce Laws to Cohabitants," Working Papers 2019-02, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    10. Jeanne Lafortune & Corinne Low, 2023. "Collateralized Marriage," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 252-291, October.
    11. Hanno Foerster, 2019. "Untying the Knot: How Child Support and Alimony Affect Couples' Decisions and Welfare," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2019_115v2, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    12. Alicia Eads & Laura Tach & Lauren Griffin, 2023. "Intra-household Financial Inequality, Gender Equality, and Marital Dissolution," Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 373-393, June.
    13. Fabio Blasutto, 2024. "Cohabitation vs. Marriage: Mating Strategies by Education in The USA," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 22(4), pages 1723-1761.
    14. Frémeaux, Nicolas & Leturcq, Marion, 2020. "Inequalities and the individualization of wealth," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 184(C).
    15. Clara E. Piano, 2022. "Autocratic family policy," Constitutional Political Economy, Springer, vol. 33(2), pages 233-253, June.
    16. Freer, Mikhail & Surana, Khushboo, 2025. "Marital stability with committed couples: A revealed preference analysis," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 131-159.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jeanne Lafortune & Corinne Low, 2023. "Collateralized Marriage," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(4), pages 252-291, October.
    2. Jeanne Lafortune & Corinne Low, 2017. "Betting the House: How Assets Influence Marriage Selection, Marital Stability, and Child Investments," Documentos de Trabajo 497, Instituto de Economia. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile..
    3. Lehrer, Evelyn L. & Son, Yeon Jeong, 2017. "Marital Instability in the United States: Trends, Driving Forces, and Implications for Children," IZA Discussion Papers 10503, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Hanno Foerster, 2019. "Untying the Knot: How Child Support and Alimony Affect Couples' Decisions and Welfare," CRC TR 224 Discussion Paper Series crctr224_2019_115v2, University of Bonn and University of Mannheim, Germany.
    5. Jennifer Roff, 2017. "Cleaning in the Shadow of the Law? Bargaining, Marital Investment, and the Impact of Divorce Law on Husbands' Intrahousehold Work," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(1), pages 115-134.
    6. Jirjahn, Uwe & Chadi, Cornelia, 2016. "Risk Attitude and Nonmarital Birth," IZA Discussion Papers 10316, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Li, Li & Mak, Eric, 2016. "Marriage, Divorce, Remarriage: The Catalyst Effect of Unilateral Divorce," MPRA Paper 83330, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Marcassa Stefania, 2013. "Divorce laws and divorce rate in the US," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(1), pages 997-1035, August.
    9. Hanno Foerster, 2019. "The Impact of Post-Marital Maintenance on Dynamic Decisions and Welfare of Couples," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 982, Boston College Department of Economics.
    10. Chigavazira, Abraham & Fisher, Hayley & Robinson, Tim & Zhu, Anna, 2019. "The Consequences of Extending Equitable Property Division Divorce Laws to Cohabitants," Working Papers 2019-02, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    11. García-Ramos, Aixa, 2021. "Divorce laws and intimate partner violence: Evidence from Mexico," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 150(C).
    12. Ho Lun Wong, 2021. "Effect of marriage registration on fertility and intrahousehold distribution in Thailand," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(3), pages 312-338, August.
    13. Bellido, Héctor & Marcén, Miriam, 2020. "On the relationship between body mass index and marital dissolution," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 326-340.
    14. Martin Halla & Mario Lackner & Johann Scharler, 2016. "Does the Welfare State Destroy the Family? Evidence from OECD Member Countries," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 118(2), pages 292-323, April.
    15. Uwe Jirjahn & Cornelia Chadi, 2020. "Out-of-partnership births in East and West Germany," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 853-881, September.
    16. Vidal-Meliá, Carlos, 2025. "Divorce Insurance: A Concept Ahead of Its Time or Doomed to Fail?," Documentos de Trabajo del ICAE 2025-02, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y Empresariales, Instituto Complutense de Análisis Económico.
    17. Angelini, Viola & Bertoni, Marco & Stella, Luca & Weiss, Christoph T., 2019. "The ant or the grasshopper? The long-term consequences of Unilateral Divorce Laws on savings of European households," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 97-113.
    18. González-Val, Rafael & Marcén, Miriam, 2012. "Unilateral divorce versus child custody and child support in the U.S," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 613-643.
    19. Raquel Fernández & Joyce Cheng Wong, 2017. "Free to Leave? A Welfare Analysis of Divorce Regimes," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(3), pages 72-115, July.
    20. Leonard M. Lopoo & Kerri M. Raissian, 2014. "U.S. Social Policy and Family Complexity," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 654(1), pages 213-230, July.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D14 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Saving; Personal Finance
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • K36 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Family and Personal Law

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:107:y:2017:i:5:p:163-67. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.