Women's Labor Supply and Marital Choice

Abstract

This paper hypothesizes that value of time, and consequently labor force participation, can vary with circumstances specific to a marriage or a marriage market. Wives' traits valued in the marriage market are expected to be associated with lower labor force participation, whereas husbands' traits valued in the marriage market are expected to be associated with lower participation, rates on the part of wives. Evidence for these hypotheses is found on the basis of regressions of labor force participation for a sample of Israeli married women. Inclusion of traits valued in the marriage market and marital sorting patterns increases the explanatory power of the regressions.