Journal article
Family Formation and the Great Recession
Journal of labor research, Vol.46(3-4), pp.77-115
12/01/2025
DOI: 10.1007/s12122-025-09373-4
Abstract
This paper studies how exposure to recessions as a young adult impacts long-term family formation in the context of the Great Recession. Using confidential linked survey data from U.S. Census, I document that exposure to a 1 pp larger unemployment shock in the Great Recession in one's early 20s is associated with a 0.8 pp decline in likelihood of marriage by their early 30s. These effects are not explained by substitution toward cohabitation with unmarried partners, are concentrated among whites, and are notably absent for individuals from high-income families. The estimated effects on fertility are also negative but imprecisely estimated. A back-of-the-envelope exercise using literature estimates of consumption equivalence scales suggests that these reductions in family formation may have increased the long-run impact of the Recession on consumption relative to its impact on individual earnings by a considerable extent.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Family Formation and the Great Recession
- Creators
- Garrett Anstreicher - University of Nebraska–Lincoln
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Journal of labor research, Vol.46(3-4), pp.77-115
- DOI
- 10.1007/s12122-025-09373-4
- ISSN
- 0195-3613
- eISSN
- 1936-4768
- Publisher
- Springer Nature
- Number of pages
- 39
- Grant note
- 1284 / Census Bureau's Disclosure Review Board
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/01/2025
- Academic Unit
- Economics
- Record Identifier
- 9985217135502771
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