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Working Paper

More on Marriage, Fertility, and the Distribution of Income

According to Pareto, the distribution of income depends on "the nature of the people comprising a society, on the organization of the latter, and, also, in part, on chance." An overlapping generations model of marriage, fertility and income distribution is developed here. The "nature of the people" is captured by attitudes toward marriage, divorce,fertility, and children. Singles search for mates in a marriage market. They are free to accept or reject marriage proposals. Married agents make their decisions through bargaining about work, and the quantity and quality of children. They can divorce. Social policies, such as child tax credits or child support requirements, reflect the "organization of the (society)." Finally, "chance" is modeled by randomness in income, opportunities for marriage, and marital bliss.

Working Papers of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland are preliminary materials circulated to stimulate discussion and critical comment on research in progress. They may not have been subject to the formal editorial review accorded official Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland publications. The views expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not represent the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland or the Federal Reserve System.


Suggested Citation

Ireland, Peter, Nezih Guner, and John Knowles. 1999. “More on Marriage, Fertility, and the Distribution of Income.” Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Working Paper No. 99-04. https://doi.org/10.26509/frbc-wp-199904