The Rising Share of Nonmarital Births: Fertility Choices or Marriage Behavior?
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Date
2004-11-01
Authors
Gray, Jo Anna
Stockard, Jean
Stone, Joe A.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Oregon, Dept of Economics
Abstract
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.
Description
33 p.
Keywords
Fertility, Illegitimacy ratio, Marriage, Non-marital fertility ratio, Non-marital births