Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP4939
Authors: Pieter A. Gautier; Michael Svarer; Coen N. Teulings
Abstract: Do people move to cities because of marriage market considerations? In cities singles can meet more potential partners than in rural areas. Singles are therefore prepared to pay a premium in terms of higher housing prices. Once married, the marriage market benefits disappear while the housing premium remains. We extend the model of Burdett and Coles (1997) with a distinction between efficient (cities) and less efficient (non-cities) search markets. One implication of the model is that singles are more likely to move from rural areas to cities while married couples are more likely to make the reverse movement. A second prediction of the model is that attractive singles benefit most from a dense market (i.e. from being choosy). Those predictions are tested with a unique Danish dataset.
Keywords: city; marriage; mobility; search
JEL Codes: J12; J64
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Attractive singles benefit most from a dense market (R23) | Attractive singles are more likely to move to cities (R23) |
| Divorcees' probability of moving to the city is greater than that of moving out (R23) | Evidence against standard lifecycle motives (D15) |
| Singles are more likely to move from rural areas to cities (R23) | Couples are more likely to move from cities to rural areas (R23) |