Under the tender years doctrine in effect until the 1970's, custody was virtually always awarded to the mother upon divorce. Gender-neutral custody laws introduced beginning in the 1970's provided married fathers, in principle, equal rights to custody. Subsequent marriage-neutral laws extended...

We investigate women's likelihood of withdrawing from paid labor to care for children and help them with schoolwork as a result of COVID and school closures. Were women more likely to shift out of paid labor in states where property-division rules would better protect the financial interests of...

Under the tender years doctrine in effect until the 1970's, custody was virtually always awarded to the mother upon divorce. Gender-neutral custody laws introduced beginning in the 1970's provided married fathers, in principle, equal rights to custody. Subsequent marriage-neutral laws extended...

The liberalization of divorce laws has reduced the commitment value of marriage and household specialization. I examine how the homemaking provision in family law that gives recognition to the contribution of homemakers in marriage in the division of marital properties at divorce affects spousal...

A variety of states in the United States have adopted the "homemaking provision" in their divorce laws since the 1980's. The provision requires judges to recognize homemakers' contribution to their marriages in dividing marital properties at divorce. I model the marital decisions of couples as a...

Positive assortative matching in terms of traits like ethnicity, race and personality has been prevalent in marital formation. One possible explanation for this is that spouses in endogamous marriages have complementary skills and tastes that increase marital surplus. This paper aims to estimate...