Based on in-depth interviews with 18 women and a survey of 98 other low income women which were carried out in 1981. Finds that women heads of households are not necessarily economically disadvantaged and suggests that women may be heads of households by choice.

We develop a new directed-search model of fertility and marriage, and apply it to two empirical problems: the rise in unmarried women’s share of births since 1970, and the fact that black women have lower marriage rates and higher rates of unmarried births than white women. The premise is that...

To raise children, to guarantee a certain way of life, and to retire with a certain amount of capital can be accomplished in many different ways, particularly when couples are faced with the possibility of unemployment or poor returns to savings while trying to balance current and future...