We explore several problems in drawing causal inferences from cross-sectional relationships between marriage …, motherhood, and wages. We find that heterogeneity leads to biased estimates of the "direct" effects of marriage and motherhood on … wages (i.e., effects net of experience and tenure); first-difference estimates reveal no direct effect of marriage or …

Using time-diary data from the U.S. and six wealthy European countries, I demonstrate that non-partnered mothers spend … slightly less time performing childcare, but much less time in other household activities than partnered mothers. Unpartnered … mothers' total work time--paid work and household production--is slightly less than partnered women's. In the U.S. but not …

Given that changes in the availability of men in the marriage market should affect marriage decisions, we use … and child outcomes for blacks and Hispanics, at least for the children of women whose marriage decisions are most affected … children live with a never-married mother. Children of never-married mothers are more likely to drop out of high school, repeat …

marriage, while increasing the probability of never having married. In general, for less advantaged teens, motherhood appears … surprisingly little evidence that births affected teens conceiving pre- and post-marriage differently …