TY  - JOUR
AU  - Buckles,Kasey S.
AU  - Guldi,Melanie E.
AU  - Price,Joseph
TI  - Changing the Price of Marriage: Evidence from Blood Test Requirements
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15161
PY  - 2009
Y2  - July 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15161
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15161.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Kasey Buckles
436 Flanner Hall
Notre Dame, IN  46556
E-Mail: kbuckles@nd.edu

Melanie E. Guldi
University of Central Florida
Department of Economics
4000 Central Florida Blvd.
Orlando, FL 32816-1400
Fax: 407-823-3269
E-Mail: mguldi@bus.ucf.edu

Joseph Price
Department of Economics
Brigham Young University
162 FOB
Provo, UT 84602
Tel: 801/422-5296
Fax: 801/422-0194
E-Mail: joseph_price@byu.edu
AB  - We use state repeals of blood test requirements for a marriage license that occurred between 1980 and 2005 to examine the impact of changes in the price of marriage on the marriage decision. Using a within-group estimator that holds constant state and year effects and exploits variation in the repeal dates of BTRs across states, we find that BTRs are associated with a 5.7% decrease in marriage licenses issued by a state.  Using individual-level marriage license data from 1981-1995, we find that about half of this effect is due to couples seeking marriage licenses in other states, with the other half is due to deterred marriages.  We also examine the marital status of mothers using birth certificate and Current Population Survey data, and find that blood test requirements reduce the fraction of first-time mothers who are married at the time of birth.  The marriage-deterrent effects of BTRs are larger for lower socio-economic groups.
ER  -