Craigie Terry-Ann, Myers Samuel L, Darity William A
Department of Economics, Connecticut College, 270 Mohegan Avenue, New London, CT 06320, (860) 439-2638.
Humphrey School of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, 301 19th Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN 55455.
J Demogr Economics. 2018 Sep;84(3):231-256. doi: 10.1017/dem.2018.3. Epub 2018 Aug 1.
Female family headship has strong implications for endemic poverty in the United States. Consequently, it is imperative to explore the chief factors that contribute to this problem. Departing from prior literature that places significant weight on welfare-incentive effects, our study highlights the role of male marriageability in explaining the prevalence of never-married female family headship for blacks and whites. Specifically, we examine racial differences in the effect of male marriageability on never-married female headship from 1980 to 2010. By exploiting data from IPUMS-USA (N = 4,958,722) and exogenous variation from state-level sentencing reforms, the study finds that the decline in the relative supply of marriageable males significantly increases the incidence of never-married female family headship for blacks but not for whites.
女性当家对美国的地方性贫困有着重大影响。因此，探究导致这一问题的主要因素势在必行。与以往大量强调福利激励效应的文献不同，我们的研究突出了男性结婚能力在解释黑人和白人中从未结婚的女性当家现象普遍存在方面的作用。具体而言，我们考察了1980年至2010年间男性结婚能力对从未结婚的女性当家现象影响的种族差异。通过利用美国综合公共使用微观数据系列（IPUMS - USA）的数据（N = 4,958,722）以及州级量刑改革带来的外部变化，该研究发现，适婚男性相对供应的下降显著增加了黑人中从未结婚的女性当家现象的发生率，但对白人却没有这种影响。
