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Title: Desired Fertility, Population Structure and Age of Marriage

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2008

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Abstract: I develop an equilibrium, two-sided search model of marriage with endogenouspopulation growth to study the interaction between fertility, the age structure ofthe population and the age at ?rst marriage of men and women.I show that, given an increase of the desired number of children, age at marriageis aected through two dierent channels. First, as population growth increases,the age structure of the population produces a "thicker market" for young people,inducing early marriages. The second channel comes from dierential fecundity: ifthe desired number of children is not feasible for older women, young women becomerelatively less choosy than young men. In equilibrium, women are more likely tomarry older men and single men outnumber single women.The results above have dynamic implications that are consistent with observedpatterns in the U.S. data. In the case of a temporary increase of desired fertility (a"baby boom"), population structure and the ratio of single men to single women actas persistence mechanisms, delaying the adjustment in marriage timing and in theage gap. First, the younger the structure of the population with respect to its steadystate composition, the higher the matching rate of young potential mates and thelower the age at marriage of men and women. Second, as the initial increase in theage gap produces an imbalance in the sex ratio, women face a higher matching ratethan men, and therefore the age gap persists even if the

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Authors: Giolito, Eugenio P.

Publisher: Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Family and Marriage, Fertility and Mortality

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