TY  - JOUR
AU  - Becker,Gary S.
AU  - Landes,Elisabeth M.
AU  - Michael,Robert T.
TI  - Economics of Marital Instability
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 153
PY  - 1976
Y2  - October 1976
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w0153
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w0153.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Gary Becker
Department of Economics
University of Chicago
1126 East 59th Street
Chicago, IL   60637
Tel: 312/702-8254
E-Mail: gbecker@uchicago.edu

Elisabeth M. Landes

Robert Michael
University of Chicago
E-Mail: rmichael@uchicago.edu
AB  - This paper focuses on the causes of divorce. Section I developsa theoretical analysis of marital dissolution incorporating uncertaintyabout the outcomes of marital decisions into a framework of utilitymaximization and the marriage market. Section II explores the implica-tions of the theoretical analysis with cross-sectional data,primarilythe 1967 Survey of Economic Opportunity and the Terman sample. Therelevance of both the theoretical and empirical analyses in explainingthe recent acceleration in the U.S. divorce rate is discussed.
ER  -