Internal inconsistencies are so commonplace in studies using the contingent valuation method(CVM) that it has been argued that that method should be abandoned as a means of preferenceelicitation in favour of other methods such as standard gambles (SG). The experiment described inthis paper finds...

Using microdata from the 2000 U.S. Census, we analyze the responses of Mexican Americans to questions that independently elicit their ethnicity (or Hispanic origin) and their ancestry. We investigate whether different patterns of responses to these questions reflect varying degrees of ethnic...

In this paper, we revisit the association between happiness and inequality. We argue that the perceived fairness of the income generation process affects this association. Building on a two-period model of individual life-time utility maximization, we predict that persons with higher perceived...

This study examines the link between divorced nonresident fathers’ proximity and children’slong-run outcomes using high-quality data from Norwegian population registers. We follow(from birth to young adulthood) 15,992 children born into married households in Norway inthe years 1975-1979...

This paper examines the extent to which mothers that care for children where thefather is non-resident have an award or agreement for child support in place. Datafrom the Families and Children Study are used to explore not only whether mothershave an award or order but the type of award they...

Fifteen per cent of British babies are now born to parents who are neithercohabiting nor married. Little is known about non-residential fatherhood thatcommences with the birth of a child. Here, we use the Millennium Cohort Studyto examine a number of aspects of this form of fatherhood. Firstly,...

The paper investigates the relationship between work and family life in Britain.Using appropriate statistical techniques we estimate a five-equation model,which includes birth events, union formation, union dissolution, employmentand non-employment events. The model allows for unobserved...

Little is known about why cohabiting couples have fewer children than married couples. Weexplore the factors that explain the difference in fertility between these two groups using aswitching regression analysis, which enables us to quantify the contribution of differentfactors through a...

Based on county-level census data for the German state of Bavaria in 1939 and 1946, we use World War II as a natural experiment to study the effects of sex ratio changes on out-of-wedlock fertility. Our findings show that war-induced shortfalls of men to women significantly increased the...

This paper provides a first microeconomic foundation for the institution of marriage. Based on a model of reproduction, mating, and parental investment in children, we argue that marriage serves the purpose of attenuating the risk of mating market failure that arises from incomplete information...