Brown, Murray
Manser, Marilyn E.
Estimation of the Demand for Marriage Based on a Bargaining Model
Discussion Paper No. 419, Economics Research Group, State University of New York at Buffalo, 1977
Cohort(s): Mature Women
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Keyword(s): Bargaining Model; Household Models; Marital Status; Marriage; Wages;

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The paper begins with a summary of the M-B model of household formation, deriving the conditions under which a marriage will take place, the reasoning underlying the threat point specification, and the effects on the marriage decision of changes in the exogenous variables, especially the effect of changes in the female wage rate. The marriage realization equation and its stochastic specification are given. For both whites and blacks, the wage and income variables are significant determinants of the marriage decision. If the marriage decision is responsive to the same factors that influence the fertility, labor supply, and consumption decisions of married couples, then the total impact of those factors on the latter decisions cannot be assessed without reference to changing marriage patterns.