The Economics of Nonmarital Childbearing and the Marriage Premium for Children

Melissa S. Kearney () and Phillip Levine
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Melissa S. Kearney: Department of Economics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742

Annual Review of Economics, 2017, vol. 9, issue 1, 327-352

Abstract: A large body of literature exists on the impact of family structure on children's outcomes, typically focusing on average effects. In this review, we build on this with an economic framework that has heterogeneous predictions regarding the potential benefit for children of married parents. We propose that the gains due to marriage from a child's perspective depend on a mother's own level of resources, the additional net resources that her partner brings, and the outcome-specific returns to resources. Data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics are consistent with the heterogeneous predictions of this framework. In terms of high school completion or avoiding poverty at age 25, the so-called marriage premium for children is highest for children of mothers with high school degrees and mothers in their early to mid-20s. For the more advanced outcomes of college completion or high income at age 25, the marriage premium monotonically increases with observed maternal age and education.

Keywords: marriage; fertility; human capital; household resources; family structure; assortative mating (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D10 I30 J12 J13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Working Paper: The Economics of Non-Marital Childbearing and The “Marriage Premium for Children” (2017)
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