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  • © 2015

The Marriage Motive: A Price Theory of Marriage

How Marriage Markets Affect Employment, Consumption, and Savings

  • Provides the first comprehensive economic theory of marriage, spanning a wider variety of aspects of marriage including chapters on labor supply of women and the effect of marriage on productivity at work

  • Surveys an extensive literature on various aspects of marriage written by economists, sociologists, anthropologists and others

  • Presents both theoretical and empirical analysis on the topics discussed

  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xii
  2. Introduction

    • Shoshana Grossbard
    Pages 1-18
  3. A Model of Work-In-Household and Labor Supply with Privately Consumed Household Goods

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 19-19
  4. Consumption and Savings

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 165-165
    2. Savings, Marriage, and Work-in-Household

      • Shoshana Grossbard, Alfredo M. Pereira
      Pages 191-209

About this book

While this book contains numerous facts and empirical findings and touches on policy issues, its main contribution to the existing literature lies in the theoretical perspective it offers. The core of this book is a general equilibrium theory of labor and marriage presented in Chapter 2, which provides the conceptual framework for the rest of the chapters. Two major implications of the theory are sex ratio effects and compensating differentials in marriage. The book demonstrates how a few core concepts, linked via economic analysis, help explain a multitude of findings based on statistical analyses of data from a wide variety of cultures. It is hoped that readers of this book will improve their understanding of how marriage works to help us design better economic and social policies as well as help people live better and happier lives, making the book of interest to not only economists but sociologists and anthropologists as well.

Reviews

“The book does give fascinating insights into the development of the Chicagoan approach to family household economics, as well as showing a characteristic ability to apply relatively simple price theoretic models to explain a wide range of empirical phenomena. It can be recommended to researchers, in the social sciences generally as well as in economics, for its insights into the development of the ideas of the ‘Chicago School’ in this area of economics … .” (Patricia Apps, Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. LIII, December, 2015)

Authors and Affiliations

  • San Diego, USA

    Shoshana Grossbard

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Marriage Motive: A Price Theory of Marriage

  • Book Subtitle: How Marriage Markets Affect Employment, Consumption, and Savings

  • Authors: Shoshana Grossbard

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-1623-4

  • Publisher: Springer New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Business and Economics, Economics and Finance (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4614-1622-7Published: 25 November 2014

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4939-4250-3Published: 10 September 2016

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4614-1623-4Published: 25 November 2014

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XII, 209

  • Number of Illustrations: 14 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Labor Economics, Family, Sociology, general, Anthropology, Microeconomics

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access