The Cobb-Douglas Marriage Matching Function: Marriage Matching with Peer and Scale Effects

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mourifie, Ismael; Siow, Aloysius
• 署名单位: University of Toronto
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0734-306X
• DOI: 10.1086/711491
• 发表日期: 2021
• 页码: S239-S274
• 关键词: power couples; divorce laws; FAMILY; MARKETS; CHOICE; MODEL; pill; identification; cohabitation; spillover

摘要

Across states, there is little correlation between a state's marriage rate or cohabitation rate and own population. Within states, there is a positive (no) correlation between a state's marriage (cohabitation) rate and its population growth rate. The Cobb-Douglas marriage matching function (CDMMF), which extends the Choo-Siow MMF to include peer effects, can rationalize these correlations. The model is easy to estimate. The CDMMF is estimated using panel data across US states from 1990 to 2010. The estimated model replicates the above scale effects. These effects are not sufficient to explain the large recent declines in the gains to marriage.