Despite the strong and persistent influence of Gary Becker’s marriage model, the
model does not completely explain the observed correlation between married
women’s labor market participation and overall divorce rates. In this paper we
show how a simple sociologically inspired extension of the model realigns the
model’s predictions with the observed trends. The extension builds on Becker’s
own claim that partners match on preference for partner specialization, and, as a
novelty, on additional sociological theory claiming that preference coordination
tend to happen subconsciously. When we incorporate this aspect into Becker’s
model, the model provides predictions of divorce rates and causes that fit more
closely with empirical observations. (JEL: J1)