Carmel U. Chiswick

Religion as a Determinant of Marital Stability

Using data from the 1987–1988 National Survey of Families and Households, this paper studies the role of the religious composition of unions as a determinant of marital stability. With the exceptions of Mormons and individuals with no religious identification, stability is found to be remarkably similar across the various types of homogamous unions. Consistent with the notion that religion is a complementary marital trait, interfaith unions have generally higher rates of dissolution than intrafaith unions. The destabilizing effect of out-marriage varies inversely with the similarity in beliefs and practices of the two religions as well as with the mutual tolerance embodied in their respective doctrines. The results also suggest that religious compatibility between spouses at the time of marriage has a large influence on marital stability, rivaling in magnitude that of age at marriage and, at least for Protestants and Catholics, dominating any adverse effects of differences in religious background.

The impact of immigrants on the macroeconomy

Abstract This paper analyzes immigrant impacts on long-run economic growth and development in the destination country. A four-factor production function permits explicit analysis of separate effects for the immigration of high-level (professional) manpower and other (production) workers, and for intra-occupational immigrant skill levels. recent history and current policy are reviewed to assess trends in the number and skill level of immigrants to the United States. The rising immigration rate leads to capital deepening (human and nonhuman) and higher consumption per native in the steady-state. Implications are explored for alternative immigration regimes and objective functions.

On estimating earnings functions for LDCs

A technique is developed for estimating earnings functions from data in which both wage earners and self-employed persons are included. The model analyzes labor earnings in a competitive market where self-employment is an important alternative to wage employment. This involves imputing the labor income of self-employed people as the wages they could otherwise earn as employees. The earnings function should be estimated from a pooled sample of both types of workers, since a sample of wage earners alone may not be random with respect to earnings-related characteristics. This may be done by including the share of self employment income in total earnings in the earnings function as an independent variable. Moreover, the coefficient of this new variable provides a basis for comparing the imputed wage of self employed persons with their total earnings. The procedure was found to be satisfactory for explaining the earnings of self employed persons with relatively low educational attainment. In Bangkok, self-employment and wage employment are alternative modes competing for the same labor; workers choose one or the other according to their relative earnings potential, and the market functions to equalize those potential earnings at the margin. 2 references.

The Impact of Immigration on the Human Capital of Natives

Implications of the quantity (number) and quality (skill) of immigration on the destination economy are analyzed, including impacts on value added, wages, quasi rents, rates of return, and the skill distribution of the native labor force. Quantity-quality trade-offs are considered for both immigrant and native workers. Medium- and long-run labor-supply responses by natives to immigrant-induced changes in wage rates are shown to have second-order effects which substantively affect the impacts of immigrants. The impact of immigration policy depends on the quality as well as quantity of immigrants, the time horizon, and the speed of factor market adjustment.

On marriage-specific human capital

This paper develops a model of remarriage for women with particular emphasis on the role of investments in marriage-specific human capital. A distinction is made between marriage-specific skills that are transferable across marriages and those that are specific to a particular spouse. It is hypothesized that transferable marriage-specific skills constitute an asset and a major component of gains from marriage for previously married women. A high level of such skills is expected to be associated with fast remarriage. The presence of children is expected to delay remarriage, because it indicates lower levels of past and future investments that would be relevant to a new partnership. These hypotheses are examined using Cox-regression techniques with data on white and black women from the 1982 National Survey of Family Growth. The empirical results are consistent with the hypotheses. A systematic pattern of race differentials is uncovered, which can be interpreted within the context of the model.

Macroeconomic Determinants of Migration: The Case of Germany 1964-1988

Macroeconomic determinants of immigration are analyzed with pooled cross-country and time series data on net immigration to Germany from European countries during 1964-88. It presents a combined focus on short- and long-run patterns of net immigration. Time series studies show that the flow of migration is affected by the business cycle in both sending and receiving countries, whereas cross-country analyses emphasize the importance of income levels and standards of living. In this paper, cross section and time series data were pooled in order to maximize the identifying power of the sample and simultaneously estimating both low and high frequency phenomena. The findings demonstrated that both high and low frequency determinants have been important. Long run trends are determined by the degree and speed of per capita income convergence between the sending and receiving countries, while year-to-year changes in net immigration flows are dominated by cyclical economic conditions.

Are immigrants and natives perfect substitutes in production

It is hypothesized that immigrant and native labor are less than perfect substitutes in production. Natives are relatively more intensive in country-specific knowledge and skills. Immigrants are relatively more intensive in the characteristics that influence self-selection for migration, including innate ability, ambition, entrepreneurship, and aggressiveness. The hypothesis is tested by comparing, for five major immigrant receiving countries, the ratio of immigrant to native labor and the ratio of immigrant (and second-generation) to native earnings, other variables held constant. A significant negative relation emerges, although the implied elasticity is high. The data for each country are from household surveys and censuses.

RELIGIOUS INTERMARRIAGE: AN ECONOMIC PERSPECTIVE

This paper develops an economic framework for analyzing the relationship between religion and marriage. The economic and demographic implications of religious intermarriage are farreaching: it is known to be associated with substantially higher rates of marital instability and with lower levels of fertility (Beckeret al, 1977; Lehrer, 1992), thereby also influencing female labor supply and investments in child quality. Religious intermarriage may be viewed as either a problem or an opportunity by denominations concerned with the size of their membership in the current and future generations. In addition, intermarriage tends to enhance the melting-pot aspect of the American culture, blurring distinctions along ethnic and religious lines, with important implications for social policy. Yet there is no systematic theoretical model for an economic perspective on the determinants of intermarriage.Part I of this paper develops an economic model of intermarriage, covering both the gains associated with religious homogamy and the associated process of marital search. Using this analytical framework, Part II discusses the effects of observed variables on the incidence of interreligious marriage. Part III closes the paper with a brief summary and suggestions for future research.

The economics of Jewish continuity

A model distinguishing between Jews and non-Jews is developed to analyze the benefits and costs of Jewish assimilation and hence the economic incentives affecting Jewish continuity. Judaism and Jewish communal life are viewed as a single self-produced good, for which production efficiency can be enhanced by investing in Jewish-specific human capital. Non-Jews produce an analogous good with the aid of human capital specific to their own group. Groups are formally distinguished from each other by the specificity of their human capital, the level of group-specific investment, and the degree of complementarity between group-specific and general human capital. The group production functions also permit interactions between individuals to generate bandwagon and club effects.It is argued that the high human capital intensity of Judaismper se (esp.Torah and related study) raises rates of return to other forms of human capital and thus generates secular rewards. Whether or not this leads to assimilation depends on the characteristics of the general society and of the non-Jewish group. It is also argued that Judaism’s structure of commandments and proscriptions (especiallyShabbat andkashrut) effectively tax religious heterogeneity within the family, supporting group survival with strong incentives in the marriage market. Some historical evidence is introduced, and it is argued that specifically Jewish human capital is typically Ihe dominant factor in Jewish continuity.

The Value of a Housewife's Time

By estimating the parameters of a production function whose inputs consist of family time and market goods, the authors offer some new microeconomic estimates of the value of production that takes place in the home and also examine the concept of joint ...