IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/red/issued/v6y2003i1p135-155.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Search Model of Marriage and Divorce

Author

Listed:
  • Tracy J. Cornelius

    (University of Wales, Swansea)

Abstract

This paper analyses long term partnership formation in a marriage market in which individuals continue to search for partners while matched. Individuals prefer relationships which offer more instantaneous utility but they also prefer more stable relationships. A relationship is more stable for one partner if there is less chance that the other partner will leave. An individual is more inclined to leave a relationship which offers less instantaneous utility and less stability. Since both partners are making these evaluations, the stability of the relationship for one companion depends on the stability of the relationship for the other and as such, separation rates are endogenous. It is shown that these feedback effects in search strategies generate a new type of multiple equilibria in which particular matches can be either stable or unstable depending on individuals beliefs. (Copyright: Elsevier)

Suggested Citation

  • Tracy J. Cornelius, 2003. "A Search Model of Marriage and Divorce," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 6(1), pages 135-155, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:issued:v:6:y:2003:i:1:p:135-155
    DOI: 10.1016/S1094-2025(02)00012-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1094-2025(02)00012-1
    File Function: Full text
    Download Restriction: Access to full texts is restricted to ScienceDirect subscribers and ScienceDirect institutional members. See http://www.sciencedirect.com/ for details.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/S1094-2025(02)00012-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Eeckhout, Jan, 1999. "Bilateral Search and Vertical Heterogeneity," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 40(4), pages 869-887, November.
    2. Wright, Randall, 1986. "Job Search and Cyclical Unemployment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(1), pages 38-55, February.
    3. Burdett, Kenneth & Coles, Melvyn G, 1999. "Long-Term Partnership Formation: Marriage and Employment," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 109(456), pages 307-334, June.
    4. Robert Shimer & Lones Smith, 2000. "Assortative Matching and Search," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 68(2), pages 343-370, March.
    5. Jovanovic, Boyan, 1979. "Job Matching and the Theory of Turnover," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(5), pages 972-990, October.
    6. John J. McCall, 1982. "The Economics of Information and Uncertainty," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number mcca82-1, March.
    7. Diamond, Peter A, 1982. "Aggregate Demand Management in Search Equilibrium," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 90(5), pages 881-894, October.
    8. Lones Smith, 2006. "The Marriage Model with Search Frictions," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 114(6), pages 1124-1146, December.
    9. Burdett Kenneth & Imai Ryoichi & Wright Randall, 2004. "Unstable Relationships," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 1(1), pages 1-44, January.
    10. repec:cep:stitep:315 is not listed on IDEAS
    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. Mario Vozar, 2010. "The Effect of Time in a Multi-Dimensional Marriage Market Model," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp417, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    2. Samuel Häfner & Georg Nöldeke, 2022. "Sorting in iterated incumbency contests," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 74(4), pages 1103-1140, November.
    3. Nobuhiro Kiyotaki & Ricardo Lagos, 2007. "A Model of Job and Worker Flows," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(5), pages 770-819, October.
    4. Giolito Eugenio, 2010. "On Population Structure and Marriage Dynamics," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 10(1), pages 1-54, November.
    5. Batabyal, Amitrajeet & Yoo, Seung Jick, 2016. "Effort Application in an Arranged Marriage: A Game-Theoretic Analysis," MPRA Paper 74745, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Eugenio Giolito, 2004. "A Search Model of Marriage with Differential Fecundity," Labor and Demography 0402007, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Valerio Filoso, 2009. "Divorce And The Option Value Of Marital Search," Metroeconomica, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 119-149, February.
    8. Peter Thompson, 2008. "Desperate Housewives? Communication Difficulties and the Dynamics of Marital (un)Happiness," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 118(532), pages 1640-1669, October.
    9. Batabyal, Amitrajeet, 2016. "Making an arranged marriage work: A game-theoretic analysis," MPRA Paper 71199, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 06 May 2016.
    10. Pieter A. Gautier & Michael Svarer & Coen N. Teulings, 2007. "Sin City?," CAM Working Papers 2007-01, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. Centre for Applied Microeconometrics.
    11. Adrian Masters, 2008. "Marriage, Commitment and Divorce in a Matching Model with Differential Aging," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 11(3), pages 614-628, July.
    12. Gil S. Epstein & Renana Lindner Pomerantz, 2013. "Assimilation through Marriage," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(2), pages 191-203, May.
    13. Tabasso, D, 2009. "With or Without You: Time Use Complementarities and Divorce Rate in the US," Economics Discussion Papers 8937, University of Essex, Department of Economics.
    14. Ueda, Kenichi, 2013. "Banks as coordinators of economic growth and stability: Microfoundation for macroeconomy with externality," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 148(1), pages 322-352.
    15. Xuemei Liu, 2007. "Optimal dynamic path of effort on marriage: differences between arranged and love marriages," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 49-52.
    16. Coles, Melvyn & Francesconi, Marco, 2007. "On the Emergence of Toyboys: Equilibrium Matching with Ageing and Uncertain Careers," IZA Discussion Papers 2612, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Javier Fernández‐Blanco, 2013. "Labor Market Equilibrium With Rehiring," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 54(3), pages 885-914, August.
    18. Amanda Gosling & Maria D. C. Garcia-Alonso, 2015. "Endogenous divorce and human capital production," Studies in Economics 1521, School of Economics, University of Kent.

    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. Richard Rogerson & Robert Shimer & Randall Wright, 2004. "Search-Theoretic Models of the Labor Market-A Survey," NBER Working Papers 10655, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Lauermann, Stephan & Nöldeke, Georg, 2014. "Stable marriages and search frictions," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 151(C), pages 163-195.
    3. Coles, Melvyn & Francesconi, Marco, 2007. "On the Emergence of Toyboys: Equilibrium Matching with Ageing and Uncertain Careers," IZA Discussion Papers 2612, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Adrian Masters, 2008. "Marriage, Commitment and Divorce in a Matching Model with Differential Aging," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 11(3), pages 614-628, July.
    5. Hector Chade & Gustavo Ventura, 2005. "Income Taxation and Marital Decisions," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 8(3), pages 565-599, Juky.
    6. Giorgio Gronchi & Elena Parilina & Alessandro Tampieri, 2021. "Plenty of Fish in the Sea: Divorce Choice and the Quality of Singles," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(23), pages 1-33, November.
    7. Matteo Richiardi, 2004. "A Search Model Of Unemployment And Firm Dynamics," Advances in Complex Systems (ACS), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 7(02), pages 203-221.
    8. Cheremukhin, Anton & Restrepo-Echavarria, Paulina & Tutino, Antonella, 2020. "Targeted search in matching markets," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    9. Stephen Kinsella & David M. Ramsey, 2011. "A Model of Partnership Formation with Friction and Multiple Criteria," Working Papers 201119, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    10. Hector Chade & Jan Eeckhout & Lones Smith, 2017. "Sorting through Search and Matching Models in Economics," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 55(2), pages 493-544, June.
    11. Xu, Yujing & Yang, Huanxing, 2019. "Targeted search with horizontal differentiation in the marriage market," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 31-62.
    12. Nobuhiro Kiyotaki & Ricardo Lagos, 2007. "A Model of Job and Worker Flows," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(5), pages 770-819, October.
    13. Pieter A. Gautier & Coen N. Teulings, 2000. "The Right Man for the Job: Increasing Returns in Search?," Econometric Society World Congress 2000 Contributed Papers 0066, Econometric Society.
    14. Yashiv, Eran, 2007. "Labor search and matching in macroeconomics," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(8), pages 1859-1895, November.
    15. Alpern, S. & Katrantzi, I. & Ramsey, D.M., 2013. "Partnership formation with age-dependent preferences," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 225(1), pages 91-99.
    16. Simon D Woodcock, 2002. "Agent Heterogeneity and Learning: An Application to Labor Markets," Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics Technical Papers 2002-20, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    17. Stephan Lauermann & Georg Nöldeke & Thomas Tröger, 2020. "The Balance Condition in Search‐and‐Matching Models," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(2), pages 595-618, March.
    18. Melvyn G. Coles & Jan Eeckhout, 2000. "Heterogeneity as a coordination device," Economics Working Papers 510, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    19. Gautier, Pieter A. & Svarer, Michael & Teulings, Coen, 2005. "Marriage and the City," IZA Discussion Papers 1491, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Lauermann, Stephan & Nöldeke, Georg, 2015. "Existence of steady-state equilibria in matching models with search frictions," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 1-4.

    More about this item

    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:red:issued:v:6:y:2003:i:1:p:135-155. 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: Christian Zimmermann (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sedddea.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.