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Title: Lowering Standards to Wed? Spouse Quality, Marriage, and Labor Market Responses to the Gender Wage Gap

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2020

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Abstract: This paper examines the effect of the female-to-male wage ratio, "relative wage," on women's spouse quality, marriage, and labor supply over three decades. Exploiting task-based demand shifts as a shock to relative pay, I find that a higher relative wage (i) increases the quality of women's mates, as measured by higher spousal education, (ii) reduces marriage without substitution to cohabitation, and (iii) raises women's hours of work. These effects are consistent with a model in which a higher relative wage increases the minimum non-pecuniary benefits ("quality") women require from a spouse and therefore reduce marriage among low-quality husbands.

Url: http://www.naamashenhav.com/uploads/9/8/0/4/9804891/lstw_jan20.pdf

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Authors: Shenhav, Na'ama

Publisher: Dartmouth College

Data Collections: IPUMS USA, IPUMS CPS

Topics: Family and Marriage, Labor Force and Occupational Structure

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