Over the past two decades, there have been significant changes in family dynamics and labor market interactions, with shifts in fertility, marriage, divorce, cohabitation, family labor supply, gender inequality, and childrearing. This chapter examines the impact of government policies on these...

Over the past two decades, there have been significant changes in family dynamics and labor market interactions, with shifts in fertility, marriage, divorce, cohabitation, family labor supply, gender inequality, and childrearing. This chapter examines the impact of government policies on these...

Research has documented gender inequalities in parental financial gifts, but it is unclear under which conditions these inequalities are socially accepted. We combine distributive justice theory with sociological and economic perspectives on intergenerational transfers to examine perceptions of...

Studies have investigated the equalizing effect of childcare provision and parental leave schemes on gendered work patterns. However, as the relationship between policies and individual time allocations to paid work is complex and challenging to empirically assess, previous research has...

During the first half of the twentieth century, many US states enacted laws restricting women's labor market opportunities, including maximum hours restrictions, minimum wage laws, and night-shift bans. The era of so-called protective labor laws came to an end in the 1960s as a result of civil...

Drawing on two data sources from across Europe, we show that both bequest motives of parents and children’s gender composition shape unequal divisions of bequests. First, the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe reveals that observed bequests are divided unequally when children...

During the first half of the twentieth century, many US states enacted laws restricting women's labor market opportunities, including maximum hours restrictions, minimum wage laws, and night-shift bans. The era of so-called protective labor laws came to an end in the 1960s as a result of civil...

Husbands are often key stakeholders and influential in women's enterprise performance. Intrahousehold constraints and relational dynamics may contribute to a gender gap in entrepreneurship. This mixed-methods paper uses a randomized controlled trial and qualitative research to examine whether...

Two mechanisms have been proposed to explain sex selection in India: son preference in which parents desire a male heir and daughter aversion in which dowry payments make parents worse off with girls. Our model incorporates both mechanisms, providing micro-foundations, based on the organization...

This paper investigates the causal impact of free primary education (FPE) on fertility decisions among parents in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on the interplay between the policy, intra-household bargaining, and cultural norms. Using Demographic and Health Survey data and exploiting the...

Unpaid domestic work continues to fall largely on women, despite their growing presence in the workforce. This paper asks whether policies changing the relative bargaining position of spouses can disrupt this pattern. I use the introduction of a bachelor tax in fascist Italy to show that...

College graduates tend to marry each other. We use detailed Norwegian data to show that strong assortativity further arises by institution and field of study, especially among high earners from elite programs. Admission discontinuities reveal that enrollment itself, rather than selection,...

This paper introduces a new framework for measuring the extent of positive assortative mating (PAM) in the marriage market by relaxing the standard assumption of dichotomous sorting levels. Conventional PAM measures treat marriage sorting as a binary outcome - either perfectly matched or not -...

In sub-Saharan Africa, the gap in fertility preferences between men and women may influence household fertility outcomes as men usually desire more children and have more intra-household bargaining power. We estimate the effect of an informational family planning program that randomizes the...

This work examines the effect of next-generation broadband on marriage rates among opposite- and same-sex couples in Spain. Given that the decision to sustain a relationship and enter into marriage is influenced by a broad spectrum of opportunities, high-speed broadband access can play a pivotal...

Immigrant households frequently face liquidity constraints upon arrival, which potentially hinders their long-term economic integration. The Family Investment Hypothesis (FIH) suggests that couples may respond to these constraints by coordinating their labor supply: one spouse works to finance...

This study examines the five-year impacts of a bicycle distribution program for adolescent girls in rural Zambia, implemented across 91 schools as part of a randomized controlled trial. While the program increased girls' self-reported empowerment and reduced experiences of domestic and intimate...

Drawing on two data sources from across Europe, we show that both bequest motives of parents and children's gender composition shape unequal divisions of bequests. First, the Survey on Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe reveals that observed bequests are divided unequally when children...

This study examines the five-year impacts of a bicycle distribution program for adolescent girls in rural Zambia, implemented across 91 schools as part of a randomized controlled trial. While the program increased girls’ self-reported empowerment and reduced experiences of domestic and...

Marriage market imbalances have been linked to social instability, crime, and reduced welfare in both developing and developed countries. We revisit this issue in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa, where high population growth and the prevalence of polygyny shape partner availability in...

An often neglected implication of couple taxation is its impact on marital sorting. A tractable model of such an impact is offered in this paper. It reveals that, as compared to joint taxation with income splitting, individual taxation makes higher-ability individuals more picky in the marriage...

This paper studies how family and firm investments interact to explain gender gaps in career achievement. Using Danish administrative data, we first document novel evidence of this interaction through a "spousal effect" on firm-side career investments. This effect is accounted for by family...

Families play an important role in providing insurance against adverse shocks, but little is known about how shocks affect the family structure itself. We study the impact of a labor market shock on divorce and intra-household allocation of resources, exploiting a naturalexperimental earthquake...

Since 1972, the General Social Survey has periodically asked whether people are happy with Yes, Maybe or No type answers. Here I use a net "happiness" measure, which is percentage Yes less percentage No with Maybe treated as zero. Average happiness is around +20 on this scale for all respondents...

This paper studies how family and firm investments interact to explain gender gaps in career achievement. Using Danish administrative data, we first document novel evidence of this interaction through a “spousal effect” on firm-side career investments. This effect is accounted for by family...

I investigate the intra-household labor and resource allocation consequences of an employment guarantee targeting rural households in India. The guarantee insures household earnings, replacing women as added workers and shutting down a motive for saving. Despite sizable program-job take-up, the...