-restoring earnings tax is genderneutral and fairly flat with respect to marriage duration. The optimal divorce tax is an inverted …-specific capital over time. At any given point in time, the gains to continued marriage depend on the accumulated stock of this capital …, sophisticated couples - but not naive ones - may choose to enter marriage on terms which make divorce more costly to obtain. Third …

Spousal characteristics such as age, height, and earnings are often used in social science research to infer social …. Given prevailing gender gaps in height and earnings, positive sorting implies it will be rare for women to be taller than … empirical application, we show that simulations which sort couples positively on permanent earnings can largely replicate the …

the theoretical literature suggesting a positive shock will reduce the benefits of the current marriage and increase the …

We present new findings about the relationship between marriage and socioeconomic background in the United States in … socioeconomic gradient for women in the probability of marriage and the socioeconomic status of husbands. This socioeconomic … marriage, and almost all of the increase in marital sorting. Differences in urbanization rates and the share of foreign …

Marriage has declined since 1960, with the drop being bigger for non-college educated individuals versus college …. Income inequality among households has also widened. A unified model of marriage, divorce, educational attainment and married …

earnings has changed dramatically. …

market earnings and to own separate property. The former were called married women's earnings acts (MWEAs) and the latter … having children within rather than outside of marriage. We thus expect passage of MWPAs and MWEAs to reduce the likelihood …

This paper examines the relationship between specialization and happiness in marriage in the U.S. and Japan. Our … support the specialization model; they are happier if their wives are not working or, alternatively, if they are financially … dependent on their wives. In Japan, we find support for the specialization model, particularly in the case of women; they are …