Demography, Population, and Ecology Commons^™

The Gap Between Births Intended And Births Achieved In 22 European Countries, 2004–07, Kristen Harknett, Caroline Sten Hartnett

Kristen Harknett

Marriage And Divorce: Changes And Their Driving Forces, Betsey Stevenson, Justin Wolfers

Betsey A Stevenson

We document key facts about marriage and divorce, comparing trends through the past 150 years and outcomes across demographic groups and countries. While divorce rates have risen over the past 150 years, they have been falling for the past quarter century. Marriage rates have also been falling, but more strikingly, the importance of marriage at different points in the life cycle has changed, reflecting rising age at first marriage, rising divorce followed by high remarriage rates, and a combination of increased longevity with a declining age gap between husbands and wives. Cohabitation has also become increasingly important, emerging as a …

Family Formation Among Women In The U.S. Military: Evidence From The Nlsy, Jennifer H. Lundquist, Herbert Smith

Dr. Jennifer H. Lundquist

Although female employment is associated with lower levels of completed fertility in the civilian world, we find family formation rates among U.S. military women to be comparatively high. We compare enlisted women with civilian women using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (N = 3,547), the only data set to measure simultaneously the nuptiality and fertility of both populations. Using propensity score matching, we show that the fertility effect derives primarily from early marriage in the military, a surprisingly ‘‘family-friendly’’ institution. This shows that specific organizational and economic incentives in a working environment may offset the more widespread contemporary social …