Journal ArticleDOI
Shacking Up or Shelling Out: Income Taxes, Marriage, and Cohabitation
James Alm,Leslie A. Whittington +1 more
TLDR
This article found that the initial decision to form either a cohabiting or a married union is only marginally affected by the income tax consequences of one form of union vs. another, and other factors play a more important role.Abstract:
Anecdotal evidence suggests that the income tax penalty associated with marriage contributes to the decision of a couple to live together as a married vs. a cohabiting couple. In this paper, we use household data from the Panel Study on Income Dynamics to estimate the impact of various factors, including the federal individual income tax, on a couple's decision to marry instead of cohabit. We find that the initial decision to form either a cohabiting or a married union is only marginally affected by the income tax consequences of one form of union vs. another, and other factors play a more important role. However, for those already living together as a cohabiting couple, the decision to make the transition from a cohabiting to a married couple is significantly affected by the tax consequences of such a move. Here, an increase in the income tax at legal marriage, or an increase in the marginal tax rate with marriage, has a statistically significant and negative impact on the probability of transition from cohabitation to legal marriage. However, the magnitude of the tax impact is generally small, and several other variables are more important determinants.read more
Citations
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The Earned Income Tax Credit at Age 30: What We Know
TL;DR: This article reviewed the structure and history of the EITC, summarizing key research into the people and places it affects as well as its impact on important socioeconomic measures, and outlined proposals intended to improve the effectiveness of the tax credit as it enters its fourth decade.
ReportDOI
Cohabitation and the Uneven Retreat from Marriage in the U.S., 1950-2010
TL;DR: The authors argue that different patterns of childrearing are the key to understanding class differences in marriage and parenthood, not an unintended byproduct of it, and that marriage is the commitment mechanism that supports high levels of investment in children and is hence more valuable for parents adopting a high-investment strategy for their children.
Journal ArticleDOI
The evolving role of marriage: 1950–2010
Shelly Lundberg,Robert A. Pollak +1 more
TL;DR: The authors argue that the sources of gains from marriage have changed in such a way that families with high incomes and high levels of education have the greatest incentives to maintain long-term relationships.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Social Safety Net After Welfare Reform: Recent Developments and Consequences for Household Dynamics
Laura Tach,Kathryn Edin +1 more
TL;DR: The remarkable transformation of the American social safety net that began in the early 1990s has led to seismic shifts in who benefits and how as mentioned in this paper, with mounting evidence of positive long-term benefits for child health and development.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Earned Income Tax Credit and Union Formation: The Impact of Expected Spouse Earnings
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate how the change in expected household EITC benefits associated with marrying affect cohabitation and marriage behavior among low-income women, and they find that a $1,000 loss in expected EITc benefits upon marriage is associated with a 1.1 percentage point decline in the likelihood of marrying and a 0.7 percentage point increase in cohabiting.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI
A Theory of Marriage: Part II
TL;DR: In this article, the skeleton of a theory of marriage is presented, which assumes that each person tries to do as well as possible and that the "marriage market" is in equilibrium.
Journal ArticleDOI
Trends in cohabitation and implications for children s family contexts in the United States
Larry L. Bumpass,Hsien-Hen Lu +1 more
TL;DR: In the United States, the proportion of births to unmarried women born into cohabiting families increased from 29 to 39 per cent in the period 1980-84 to 1990-94, accounting for almost all of the increase in unmarried childbearing as discussed by the authors.
Journal ArticleDOI
Does Marriage Matter
TL;DR: This work would like to argue that demographers have an opportunity and an obligation to tell people what their decisions about marriage and family potentially mean for them as individuals and to tell them what that decision may mean for themselves as individuals.
Posted Content
A Theory of Marriage: Part II
TL;DR: In this article, the skeleton of a theory of marriage is presented, which assumes that each person tries to do as well as possible and that the "marriage market" is in equilibrium.
Journal ArticleDOI
National Estimates of Cohabitation
Larry L. Bumpass,James A. Sweet +1 more
TL;DR: Multivariate analysis reveals higher rates of cohabitation among women, whites, persons who did not complete high school, and those from families who received welfare or who lived in a single-parent family while growing up.