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Would You Marry Me?: The Effects of Marriage on German Couples' Allocation of Time

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  • Abdel-Rahmen El Lahga
  • Nicolas Moreau

Abstract

We evaluate the effects of the transition from cohabitation to marriage on household domestic and market work hours using a sample of working couples. For this purpose we use the 21 first waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSEOP). We adapt the estimator introduced by Semykina and Wooldridge (2005) to system GMM estimation to account for selection bias in the presence of endogenous regressors. Our results indicate that marriage increases women's specialization in home-based activities and that marriage decreases women's leisure. These effects are robust across specifications.

Suggested Citation

  • Abdel-Rahmen El Lahga & Nicolas Moreau, 2007. "Would You Marry Me?: The Effects of Marriage on German Couples' Allocation of Time," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 12, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp12
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    1. Kuhlenkasper, Torben & Kauermann, Göran, 2010. "Duration of maternity leave in Germany: A case study of nonparametric hazard models and penalized splines," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 466-473, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Labour; family and networks; econometrics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • 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
    • C33 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation

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