Will you “quasi-marry” me? The rise of cohabitation and decline of marriages

In Western Europe and the US, the last couple of decades have witnessed a large increase in the new forms of marriages, usually called quasi-marriages, like cohabitation. Today in many European countries more than 15% of all couples are cohabiting. Furthermore, cohabiting couples differ from married ones. They tend to share household tasks and market works more equally than married couples. The aim of this paper is to account for the rise in cohabitation as well as the cross-sectional differences between cohabiting and married couples. To this end, we build a two-period model of marriage and cohabitation with home production. Using this framework, we analyze, both theoretically and empirically, the effects of the narrowing of the gender wage gap and the improvement in household production technology on the agents’ marital decisions.Marriage, Cohabitation, Marital institutions, Household production technology, Gender wage gap

Will you “quasi-marry” me? The rise of cohabitation and decline of marriages

In Western Europe and the US, the last couple of decades have witnessed a large increase in the new forms of marriages, usually called quasi-marriages, like cohabitation. Today in many European countries more than 15% of all couples are cohabiting. Furthermore, cohabiting couples differ from married ones. They tend to share household tasks and market works more equally than married couples. The aim of this paper is to account for the rise in cohabitation as well as the cross-sectional differences between cohabiting and married couples. To this end, we build a two-period model of marriage and cohabitation with home production. Using this framework, we analyze, both theoretically and empirically, the effects of the narrowing of the gender wage gap and the improvement in household production technology on the agents’ marital decisions

Young adults living with their parents and the influence of peers

This study examines the impact of peer behaviour on the living arrangements of young adults in the United States. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we analyse the influence of high school friends on the nest-leaving decisions of young adults. We achieve identification by exploiting the differences in the timing of leaving the parental home among peers, the individual-specific nature of the peer groups that are based on friendship nominations, and by including school (network) and grade (cohort) fixed effects. Our results indicate that there are statistically significant peer effects on the decisions of young adults to leave the parental home. This is true even after we control for labour and housing market conditions, as well as for a comprehensive list of individual and family-of-origin characteristics that are usually unobserved by the econometrician. We discuss various mechanisms and confirm the robustness of our results through a placebo exercise. Our findings reconcile with the increasing proportion of young adults who are living with their parents in the United States, a trend that is persisting, even since the end of the Great Recession

Peer Effects in Young Adults' Marital Decisions

This paper studies peer group effects on marital decisions. We use data from Waves I and III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). This database contains detailed information on adolescents’ high school friends as well as their marital behavior later in life. We construct a balanced panel for the years 1995-2002 using the calendar of all past and current relationships of the respondents, which allows us to recover the marital status of each individual and of her friends at any given year. Hence, we are able to analyze how the marital transitions of individuals depend on the marital status of their friends. We use panel data, instrumental variables techniques, and exploit the timing of friendship formation to identify the effect of peers on marital decisions. Our results after controlling for various observable characteristics of individuals and their friends show that peer effects in marital decisions are significant. Robustness checks using former and placebo friends support our results, and indicate that actual peers do matter

Essays on formation and dissolution of households

In Western Europe and the US, the last couple of decades have witnessed a large increase in the new forms of marriages, usually called quasi-marriages, like cohabita- tion. Today in many European countries more than 15% of all couples are cohabiting. Furthermore, cohabiting couples di¤er from married ones. They tend to share house- hold tasks and market works more equally than married couples. The aim of the rst chapter of the dissertation, "Will You Quasi-Marry Me? The Rise of Cohabitation and Decline of Marriages" is to account for the rise in cohabitation as well as the cross-sectional di¤erences between cohabiting and married couples. To this end, a two-period model of marriage and cohabitation with home production is built. Using this framework, the relationship between the narrowing of the gender wage gap, the improvement in household production technology and the agents marital decisions is analyzed, both theoretically and empirically. The second chapter of the dissertation, "Peer E¤ects in Young Adults Marital Decisions" studies peer group e¤ects on marital decisions using data from Waves I and III of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). This data- base contains detailed information on adolescents high school friends as well as their marital behavior later in life. A balanced panel for the years 1995-2002 is constructed using the calendar of all past and current relationships of the respondents. This pro- cedure allows to recover the marital status of each individual and of her friends at any given year in order to analyze how the marital transitions of individuals depend on the marital status of their friends. The e¤ect of peers on marital decisions is identi ed using panel data, instrumental variables techniques, and by exploiting the timing of friendship formation. The results after controlling for various observable character- istics of individuals and their friends show that peer e¤ects in marital decisions are signi cant. Robustness checks using former and placebo friends support the results, and indicate that actual peers do matter. The third chapter of the dissertation, "Young Adults living with their Parents and the In uence of peers" focuses on young adults living with their parents in the U.S. and studies the role of peers. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) the in uence of high school friends on the coresidence of young adults with their parents is analyzed. The challenges in the identi cation of peer e¤ects in a static framework are addressed and are mitigated by employing an instrumental variable technique and controlling for state xed e¤ects. The analysis is then extended to a dynamic framework and exploits di¤erences in the timing of leaving the parental home among peers. The results indicate that there are statistically signi cant peer e¤ects on the nest-leaving behavior of young adults.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------En Europa Occidental y EE.UU., las últimas dos décadas han sido testigos de un gran aumento de las nuevas formas de matrimonio, generalmente llamados cuasi- matrimonios, como la cohabitación. Hoy en día, en muchos países de Europa, más del 15% de las parejas viven juntas sin casarse. Además, las parejas que deciden convivir con y sin matrimonio di eren en sus características sociodemográ cas. Las parejas de hecho tienden a compartir las tareas de casa y el trabajo en el mercado en una manera más equitativa que las parejas casadas. El objetivo del primo capítulo de la tesis, "Will You Marry Me Quasi-Marry Me? The Rise of Cohabitation and Decline of Marriages" es explicar el aumento de la convivencia fuera del matrimonio, así como las diferencias entre convivientes y parejas casadas. Para este n, construyo un modelo de dos periodos con matrimonio, convivencia y producción doméstica. Usando este contexto, analizo la relación entre la reducción de la brecha salarial de género, la mejora en la tecnología de producción de los hogares y las decisiones maritales de los agentes, tanto teóricamente como empíricamente. El segundo capítulo de la tesis, "Peer E¤ects in Young Adults Marital Decisions" estudia la in uencia de los amigos a las decisiones maritales usando el Estudio Nacional Longitudinal de Salud Adolescente (Add Health). Esta base de datos contiene informa- ción detallada sobre los amigos de la secundaria, así como su comportamiento marital en el futuro. Construyo un panel para los años 1995-2002 utilizando el calendario de todas las relaciones pasadas y presentes de los encuestados. Este procedimiento me permite recuperar el estado civil de cada persona y de sus amigos en cualquier año con el n de analizar cómo las transiciones maritales de personas dependen del estado civil de sus amigos. El efecto de los amigos a las decisiones maritales se identi ca utilizando el panel de datos, técnicas de variables instrumentales, y aprovechando el momento de la formación de la amistad. Los resultados -controlando por diversas car- acterísticas observables de los individuos y sus amigos- muestran que la in uencia de los amigos a las decisiones maritales es signi cativa. Pruebas de robustez con antiguos amigos y amigos "placebo" apoyan los resultados, e indican que los amigos reales son importantes. El tercer capítulo de la tesis, "Young Adults Living with their Parents and the In uence of Peers " se centra en los adultos jóvenes que viven con sus padres en los EE.UU. y la in uencia de los amigos. Usando de nuevo los datos del Estudio Longitudinal Nacional de la Salud de los Adolescentes (Add Health) analizo el efecto de los amigos de la secundaria a la co-residencia de los adultos jóvenes con sus padres. Los retos de la identi cación de este tipo de efectos en contexto estático se mitigan mediante el empleo de una técnica de variables instrumentales y controlando para el estado de residencia de los encuestados. El análisis se extiende luego a un marco dinámico y explota las diferencias en el momento de dejar la casa paterna entre amigos. Los resultados indican que existen efectos signi cativos de los amigos a la decisión de los adultos jóvenes de abandonar la casa paterna

Not just a work permit: EU citizenship and the consumption behaviour of documented and undocumented immigrants

This paper explores the impact of the 2007 EU enlargement on the consumption behavior of immigrant households. Using data from a unique Italian survey and a diff-in-diff approach, we find that the enlargement induced a consumption increase for immigrants from new member states. This effect concerned both undocumented and documented immigrants, albeit through different channels. Detailed information on immigrants’ legal status and sector of employment allows us to shed light on the exact mechanisms. Following the enlargement, previously undocumented immigrants experienced increases in labor income by moving away from the informal sector, whereas immigrants who were already working legally in Italy benefited from an increased probability of getting permanent contracts. Enhanced employment stability in turn reduced uncertainty, leading to an increase in documented immigrants’ consumption

Beautiful inside and out: peer characteristics and academic performance

This paper explores the effect of own and peer attractiveness on various measures of academic performance. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health), we focus on high school students in the United States and exploit random variation within schools across cohorts in adolescents’ physical and personality attractiveness as assessed by the interviewer. We find that for girls only own personality attractiveness boosts academic outcomes. For boys instead, both own physical and personality attractiveness positively affect performance and peer characteristics also matter. An increase in the fraction of physically attractive high school peers decreases boys' academic performance in later years. We show that this effect is driven by less physically mature boys and operates through a decrease in self-confidence