measures of the national unemployment rate for males, national recession indicators, and micro-level proxies for earning power …

We present new findings about the relationship between marriage and socioeconomic background in the United States in … the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Imputing socioeconomic status of family of origin from first names, we document a … socioeconomic gradient for women in the probability of marriage and the socioeconomic status of husbands. This socioeconomic …

more children than cohabiting couples primarily because marriage provides stronger incentives for specialization in … household production. Unobserved self-selection plays a less important role. -- Fertility ; marriage ; cohabitation ; switching …