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Do Children Stabilize Marriages?

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  • Svarer, Michael
  • Verner, Mette

    (Department of Economics, University of Aarhus, Denmark)

Abstract

In this paper we study the relationship between fertility and divorce. The potential endogeneity of fertility in divorce decisions is explicitly addressed by modelling fertility and divorce jointly. We apply the "timing-of-event" method (Abbring & van den Berg (2002)) to identify the causal effect of births on the divorce hazard. We show that couples who are less prone to divorce are more prone to invest in children, and therefore one might (mistakenly) conclude that children tend to stabilize marriages. However, when correcting for endogeneity of fertility, we conclude that children themselves do not have a positive effect on marriage duration.

Suggested Citation

  • Svarer, Michael & Verner, Mette, "undated". "Do Children Stabilize Marriages?," Economics Working Papers 2003-3, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    • Handle: RePEc:aah:aarhec:2003-3
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Svarer, Michael, "undated". "Determinants of Divorce in Denmark," Economics Working Papers 2002-19, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Marriage; Divorce Children;

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • C3 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables

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