TY - UNPB

T1 - The rise and fall of divorce - a sociological adjustment of becker’s model of the marriage market

T2 - a sociological adjustment of becker’s model of the marriage market

AU - Andersen, Signe Hald

AU - Hansen, Lars Gårn

PY - 2010

Y1 - 2010

N2 - Despite the strong and persistent influence of Gary Becker’s marriage model, themodel does not completely explain the observed correlation between marriedwomen’s labor market participation and overall divorce rates. In this paper weshow how a simple sociologically inspired extension of the model realigns themodel’s predictions with the observed trends. The extension builds on Becker’sown claim that partners match on preference for partner specialization, and, as anovelty, on additional sociological theory claiming that preference coordinationtend to happen subconsciously. When we incorporate this aspect into Becker’smodel, the model provides predictions of divorce rates and causes that fit moreclosely with empirical observations. (JEL: J1)

AB - Despite the strong and persistent influence of Gary Becker’s marriage model, themodel does not completely explain the observed correlation between marriedwomen’s labor market participation and overall divorce rates. In this paper weshow how a simple sociologically inspired extension of the model realigns themodel’s predictions with the observed trends. The extension builds on Becker’sown claim that partners match on preference for partner specialization, and, as anovelty, on additional sociological theory claiming that preference coordinationtend to happen subconsciously. When we incorporate this aspect into Becker’smodel, the model provides predictions of divorce rates and causes that fit moreclosely with empirical observations. (JEL: J1)

M3 - Working paper

T3 - FOI Working Paper

BT - The rise and fall of divorce - a sociological adjustment of becker’s model of the marriage market

PB - Institute of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen

ER -