期刊名称：HIER Discussion Paper Series / Harvard Institute of Economic Research
出版年度：2006
卷号：2006
出版社：Harvard Institute of Economic Research
摘要：Using the birth certificates data from the Vital Statistics of the USA between
1968 and 1999, we construct state level panel data of different measures of
fertility and examine the change in divorce laws. Total fertility declined in
states that introduced unilateral divorce, which makes dissolution of marriage
easier. Most of this effect is due to a decline of out-of-wedlock fertility. We
suggest an explanation (and provide supportive evidence for it) based upon the
effect of divorce laws on the probability of entering and exiting marriage.
Women planning to have children marry more easily with an easier “exit option”
from marriage. Thus, more children are born in the first years of marriage,
while the total marital fertility does not change, probably as a result of an
increase in divorces and marital instability. The effect of changes in divorce
laws is greater among whites than African Americans.
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