Date of Award

3-25-2024

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Department of Economics: Applied Economics

First Advisor

Timothy Harris

Abstract

This paper examines the effect of being born outside of marriage (BOOM) on the future outcomes of individuals. I use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) individual-level data to follow individuals from birth to age 30 and analyze the effect of being born outside of marriage on future marital status, education level, and poverty status. I find statistically significant impacts of BOOM on future outcomes, though additional childhood controls lessen the effect. I then use arguably exogenous variation from the marital status of an individual’s grandmother at the time of their mother’s birth to instrument for external factors that may affect non-marital births. I find relatively weak evidence of intergenerational transmission of BOOM status as a mother's BOOM status increases the likelihood of their child being BOOM by 7.4 percentage points. Still, the results should be interpreted with caution.

Comments

Imported from Keithley_ilstu_0092N_12615.pdf

DOI

https://doi.org/10.30707/ETD2024.20240618063949532923.999958

Page Count

41

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