Journal of Labor Economics Vol. 8 No. 3 1990
The Effect of Economic Opportunity and Family Background on Adolescent Cohabitation on Adolescent Cohabitation and Childbearing among Low-Income Blacks
Abstract
This article uses a hazards model permitting continuous covariates and fixed effects to estimate the effect of local employment opportunity and family background on the cohabitation and childbearing of black youths from low-income households. Support is found for W. J. Wilson's hypothesis that employment opportunity encourages the formation of cohabitational unions, as well as for the "opportunity-cost" hypothesis that employment opportunity discourages childbearing outside such unions. However, the latter effect appears to be larger, suggesting that the opportunity-cost hypothesis is the primary channel through which higher employment rates result in lower rates of illegitimacy among underclass youths.
- DOI
- 10.1086/298226
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 341-362
- Language
- en
- Sources
- openalex crossref