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Marriage and Divorce since World War II: Analyzing the Role of Technological Progress on the Formation of Households

Author Info

  • Greenwood, Jeremy

    (University of Pennsylvania)

  • Guner, Nezih

    ()

    (MOVE, Barcelona)

Abstract

Since World War II there has been: (i) a rise in the fraction of time that married households allocate to market work, (ii) an increase in the rate of divorce, and (iii) a decline in the rate of marriage. It is argued here that labor-saving technological progress in the household sector can explain these facts. This makes it more feasible for singles to maintain their own home, and for married women to work. To address this question, a search model of marriage and divorce, which incorporates household production, is developed. An extension looks back at the prewar era.

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Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 3313.

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Length: 68 pages
Date of creation: Jan 2008
Date of revision:
Publication status: published in: Acemoglu, D. et al. (eds.): NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2008, NBER, Cambridge, MA , 2009, 231-276
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3313
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Keywords: divorce; marriage; technological progress; household production; hours worked; household size;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • E13 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Neoclassical
  • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
  • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
  • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

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Blog mentions

As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
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