Making Big Changes: The Impact of Moves on Marriage among U.S. Army Personnel

Susan Carter and Abigail Wozniak

No 24300, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: We use exogenously determined, long-distance relocations of U.S. Army soldiers to investigate the impact of moving on marriage. We find that marriage rates increase sharply around the time of a move in an event study analysis. Reduced form exposure analysis reveals that an additional move over a five year period increases the likelihood of marriage by 14 percent. Moves increase childbearing by a similar magnitude, suggesting that marriages induced by a move are formed with long-term intentions. These findings are consistent with a model where the marriage decision is costly and relocation lowers the costs to making this decision. Our results have implications for understanding how people make major life decisions such as marriage, as well as the cost of migration.

JEL-codes: J1 J12 J13 J61 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab, nep-mig and nep-ure
Note: CH ED LS
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