Gray, Jo AnnaStockard, JeanStone, Joe A.2005-03-222005-03-222004-11-01https://hdl.handle.net/1794/66433 p.Much of the sharp rise in the share of nonmarital births in the United States has been attributed to changes in the fertility choices of unmarried and married women - in response, it is often argued, to various public policies. In contrast, we develop and test a model that attributes the rise to changes in marriage behavior, with no changes in fertility. A variety of empirical tests strongly supports this conclusion and invites focused attention to issues related to marriage behavior, as well as the interactions between marriage and fertility.237256 bytesapplication/pdfen-USFertilityIllegitimacy ratioMarriageNon-marital fertility ratioNon-marital birthsWorking Paper