On the Economics of Marriage.

• Author: Davidson, Audrey B.

The institution of marriage captures the attention of economists with increasing frequency these days, many finding common ground in the theory developed in Gary Becker's (1991) A Treatise on The Family. Although Grossbard-Shechtman was a student of Becker's and his influence is evident, her treatise stands apart on its own merit as a significant contribution to the economics of marriage literature. This book should attract the intelligent general reader as well as economists.

Unlike other recent work addressing the economics of marriage, Grossbard-Shechtman's central thesis rests on the interaction between traditional labor markets and the market for spousal labor. Spousal labor is defined as any activity benefitting the spouse, ranging from traditional household chores to investing in a spouse's human capital to increase household and career productivity. Applying microeconomic theory (and without bombarding the reader with mathematics), the author argues that labor market conditions affect the value of time in the household and consequently the supply and demand of spousal labor.

The book is organized in six parts. Parts I and II provide an overview of the economic theory of marriage and other explanations of marriage. The general reader will benefit from this overview while readers familiar with the economics of marriage can skim these chapters and turn to part III where the author analyzes the impact of the sex ratio on marriage. The sex ratio is defined as the number of marriageable men divided by the number of marriageable women. Trends in the sex ratio over the century are traced and cross-city comparisons of sex ratios are analyzed. "Marriage squeeze" occurs when members of one sex face a small pool of eligibles for marriage. A high sex ratio indicates a squeeze for men which, according to the author, leads to predictably fewer women in the labor force.

The author traces the women's liberation movement in the 1960s to a corresponding marriage squeeze for women. Concurrent upward trends in divorce and cohabitation appeared in the late 1960s and persisted into the late 1980s. The author also discusses racial variations in the incidence of marriage squeeze. Differences are explained by variations in sex ratios according to race and a generally weaker bargaining position for compensation in the spousal labor market since more black (than white) women work outside the household.

Part IV turns to an innovative analysis of compensating...