Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/202702 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 12356
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
In this paper, I address the U-shaped dynamics (a decrease followed by an increase) in the age at first marriage during the twentieth century. First, I show that the U-shaped dynamics have been steeper in Western that in other countries. Second, I find that these dynamics in Western Europe are strongly related to the post-WWII economic development. By contrast, in the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries age of marriage was much less correlated across Western countries. I propose a simple model where age of marriage is a function of search frictions and a structural change of the economy. Both factors put together generate U-shaped dynamics as a result of an industrial boom that mimics the post-WWII economic development, especially in Western countries.
Subjects: 
age of marriage
economic development
twentieth century demography
JEL: 
J12
N32
N34
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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