John Knowles: Published Papers

Title: Why do Women Wait? Matching, Wage Inequality and Incentives for Fertility Delay

Authors: Elizabeth Caucutt, Nezih Guner and John Knowles

Journal: Review of Economic Dynamics, Vol. 5 (4). p 815-55. October 2002.

First Version: November 2001

Abstract:

This paper explores the interaction between wage inequality and the marriage and fertility decisions of young women. We develop an equilibrium search model of marriage, divorce, and investment in children that allows for differential timing of fertility. We show how patterns of fertility timing in US data can be explained by the incentives for fertility delay implied by marriage and labor markets. We find that these incentives help explain both the cross-sectional relationship between women's wages and fertility timing, and the changes over the last 30 years in married women's fertility timing and labor supply.

Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: J12, J13