 The Sex Ratio and the Out-of-Wedlock Birth Rate in the United States during World War IIRobert McCormick, Melissa Yeoh and Mason S. Gerety International Journal of Social Science Studies, 2013, vol. 1, issue 2, 242-248 Abstract: This paper provides a theoretical economic framework to study the effects of changes in the sex ratio on the out-of-wedlock birth rate in the United States. We model the demanders and suppliers of sexual relations as potential mates and the relative ¡°price¡± of human sexual relations as the promises implicit within a traditional marriage (marriage, fidelity, wealth transfers, child support, etc.). We examine an instrument for the implicit ¡°price¡± of sexual relations, namely the out-of-wedlock birth rate. We show that the reduction in the number of available sex partners for women during World War II decreased the ¡°price¡±¡ªin terms of marriage¡ªthat remaining men had to pay for sex. One result of this lower ¡°price¡± is an increase in the number of children born out-of-wedlock during the war. According to our regression results, a reduction in the sex ratio of 10 males per 100 females in the U.S. population during World War II increased the out-of wedlock birth rate by six to ten percent. Keywords: sex ratio; out-of-wedlock births; marriage; fertility (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rfa:journl:v:1:y:2013:i:2:p:242-248 Access Statistics for this article More articles in International Journal of Social Science Studies from Redfame publishing Contact information at EDIRC. |
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