Akerlof and Kranton (2000) and apply it to the marriage decision. The empirical evidence is consistent with the idea that … people are more likely to marry when their incomes approach a financial level associated with idealized norms of marriage. We … hypothesize that the marriage ideal is determined by the median income in an individual’s local reference group. After controlling …

consequences of different stable unions (marriage and cohabitation) for child wellbeing. Results indicate that relationship quality … is the key determinant to both long-term cohabitation and marriage among unwed parents. Moreover, there are only slight …

Study, this study investigates whether marriage after childbirth has a causal effect on early child cognitive ability, using … a treatment outcome approach to account for the selection into marriage. Comparing children with similar background … least squares models indicates that the marriage effect is greater for children whose parents transition into marriage …

examine relationship quality for co-resident couples over nine years after a child’s birth. Findings suggest that marriage at … birth is protective for couple relationship quality, net of various individual characteristics associated with marriage …, compared to all cohabiting couples at birth; however, marriage does not differentiate relationship quality compared to the …