In most Western economies, the flourishing of the Welfare State has coincided with a decline of the role of the family … the informal safety net in a period when social protection was provided by the family. Once the State started offering … suitable alternatives, the taboo was no longer expedient, and was dropped. For the same reasons, marriage has become less …

in the usual way, and an unconventional one allowing them to qualify for a pension by having children, and investing time …

, how many children to have and subsequently whether to stay together or separate. We make precise the idea that cooperation … in a household can be supported by self interest. Since the costs of raising children are unequally distributed among … partners, there is a potential conflict between individually optimal and efficient, i.e. surplus maximizing, decisions. Side …

This paper studies the effect of child care provision on family structure. We present a model of a marriage market with … children and spousal specialization in home production of public goods and child care. We then study how child care provision …

women. Historically, women with more education have been the least likely to marry and have children, but this marriage gap …. College educated women marry later, have fewer children, are less likely to view marriage as “financial security”, are happier … has eroded as the returns to marriage have changed. Marriage and remarriage rates have risen for women with a college …

decisions and intergenerational transfers are governed by self-enforcing family constitutions. We then show that first and …

“linked” by the young spouses. Children contribute part of their time to a household (couple) public good and provide …

parents to children; (2) positive assortative mating of parents, which tends to reinforce the impact of parents on the child …