This paper applies the theory of relational contracts to a model in which a couple decides whether to marry or cohabit … among the decisions on marriage, fertility and divorce. …

We document that, over the 20th century, age at first marriage followed a U-shaped pattern, while the gender education … model where educational and marriage decisions are endogenous. Two key assumptions are made: marriage requires a fixed cost … consistent with our empirical result that exogenous delays in marriage age caused by minimum age laws decreased the educational …

marriage as well as for a precautionary savings motive. …

This paper examines the effects of reforms that reduced alimony on matching in the marriage market. Recent literature … reform that reduced the entitlements of eligible spouses and American Community Survey data on marriage and the …