Local Marriage Markets and the Marital Behavior of Black and White Women

TLDR

Prior studies have largely ignored the spatial dimension of marriage markets, treating national rates as aggregated data rather than reflecting local marriage‑market areas that shape women’s opportunities. The study directly tests alternative explanations of U.S. marital behavior and black‑white marriage‑rate differences using 1980 PUMS local‑area data. The authors analyze 1980 PUMS local‑area data to evaluate how local economic opportunities, spouse availability, urbanization, and the supply of economically attractive males influence marital behavior.

Abstract

Previous research has typically ignored the spatial dimension of marriage markets, focusing instead on highly aggregated data or on individual models of entry into marriage. A basic premise of this study is that national marriage rates are played out across local marriage-market areas that define female opportunities for marriage. Using local area data from the newly released 1980 Public Use Microdata Sample (D file), the article provides a direct test of several alternative explanations of U.S. marital behavior and of black and white differences in marriage rates. The analysis reveals that (a)local economic opportunities (including welfare)for females, spouse availability, and urbanization contribute significantly to spatial variations is female marriage rates, (b) the lcoal supply of economically "attractive" males plays an especially large role in the marital behaviors of U.S. black and white women, and (c) racial differences in marriage-market conditions accentuate, but do not explain completely, black-white differences in U.S. marriage rates. The study reinforces the view that local marriage-market conditions play a fundamental and often unappreciated role in the marital search process of American women.