Do children stabilize relationships in Denmark?

TY - JOUR

T1 - Do children stabilize relationships in Denmark?

AU - Svarer, Michael

AU - Verner, Mette

PY - 2008

Y1 - 2008

N2 - In this paper, we study the relationship between fertility behavior and the process of relationship duration. The potential endogeneity of fertility on dissolution risk is taken into account by modeling fertility and dissolution jointly. We apply the timing-of-event method (Abbring and van den Berg, Econometrica 71(5):1491-1517, 2003) to identify the causal effect of births on the dissolution hazard. We show that couples who are less prone to split up are more prone to invest in children, and therefore, one might (mistakenly) conclude that children stabilize relationships. However, when correcting for the selectivity bias arising from the fertility decision, we conclude that children themselves have a negative effect on relationship duration.

AB - In this paper, we study the relationship between fertility behavior and the process of relationship duration. The potential endogeneity of fertility on dissolution risk is taken into account by modeling fertility and dissolution jointly. We apply the timing-of-event method (Abbring and van den Berg, Econometrica 71(5):1491-1517, 2003) to identify the causal effect of births on the dissolution hazard. We show that couples who are less prone to split up are more prone to invest in children, and therefore, one might (mistakenly) conclude that children stabilize relationships. However, when correcting for the selectivity bias arising from the fertility decision, we conclude that children themselves have a negative effect on relationship duration.

KW - Ægteskab

KW - Børn

KW - Marriage

KW - Cohabitation

KW - Dissolution

KW - Children

U2 - 10.1007/s00148-006-0084-9

DO - 10.1007/s00148-006-0084-9

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0933-1433

VL - 21

SP - 395

EP - 417

JO - Journal of Population Economics

JF - Journal of Population Economics

IS - 2

ER -