Economics, Judaism, and Marriage (in Hebrew)

This paper points to parallels between the economic approach to marriage and Jewish Law. The economic approach is applied to the sex ratio question, the price of Torah scholars, the need for marriage brokers, marriage contracts and polygamy, all topics also addressed by Jewish law

A market approach to intermarriage

A market approach to intermarriage is developed in the tradition of economic theory. The model includes a supply of women's work in home production and a demand for such work by men. Separate markets exist for different types of work in household production, including different ethnic or religious groups. Some individuals intermarry in the sense that they partner with people from another group. I derive testable predictions regarding the determinants of intermarriage.The model is applied to explain why some Jewish men intermarried with Gentile women and others did not. Controlling for preferences for homogamy (based on Jewish education) it is predicted that men who prefer exogamy will pay a price in terms of being more educated than their Gentile wife, or having fewer previous marriages. Data from the 1970-71 Jewish Population Survey in the USA are used to test the predictions

Women, Schooling, and Marriage in Rural Philippines

Using data from the Bicol region of the Phillipines, we examine why women are more educated than men in a rural, agricultural economy in which women are significantly less likely than men to participate in the labor market. We hypothesize that educational homogamy in the marriage market and cross-productivity effects in the household allow Filipino women to reap substantial benefits from schooling regardless of whether they enter the labor market. Our estimates reveal that the return to schooling for women is approximately 20 percent in both labor and marriage markets. In comparison, men experience a 12 percent return to schooling in the labor market. By using birth order, sibship size, percent of male siblings, and parental education as instruments, we correct for a significant downward bias that is caused by the endogeneity of schooling attainment

How Will Reforms of Marital Institutions Influence Marital Commitment? A Theoretical Analysis

family structure, marriage, divorce, public policy ,

The Relationship Between Wife’s Education and Husband’s Earnings: Evidence from 1960 to 2000

Previous research finds a positive relationship between a wife’s education and her husband’s earnings using data from the 1960s. Earlier theories suggest that benefits accrue from informational sharing between partners in a marriage. This paper tests the hypothesis that a wife’s education is positively associated with her husband’s earnings, using data from the 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, and 2000 Censuses. Between 1960 and 2000, the educational attainment and labor-force participation of married women has increased dramatically. As women have embarked upon their own careers, has their education continued to be positively associated with their husbands’ earnings? Yes. The coefficient of the wife’s education remains positive and significant for all the years under study. The size of the coefficient decreases, however, from 1960 to 2000. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. 2005marriage, wife’s education, husband’s earnings,