The Effects of Changes in Household Structure on the Distribution of Economic Resources

In Altonji et al (2022) my co-authors and I estimate a model of individual labor earnings; marriage and divorce probabilities, fertility, and nonlabor income. We then use the model to measure the dynamic responses of marital status, earnings, and family income to various labor market shocks, education, and permanent wage heterogeneity. We also provide gender-specific estimates of the contribution of education, permanent wages, labor market shocks, spouse characteristics, spouse wage shocks, and marital histories to the variance of family income by age and over a lifetime. An important limitation of this work is that only consider individuals who are single heads of household or are married and cohabiting. And we ignore the presence of other adults (such as parents or in laws), who may be providing significant resources.

I am working on a new study that will broaden the family relationships that are considered. As part of that process, I would like to work with a Tobin RA to survey the literature in demography and sociology on changes in family structure over time, paying attention to racial and ethnic differences. I also wish to work with an RA to quantify trends in the makeup of American families using data from Current Population Survey.

This project is related to "Racial Differences in the Dynamics and Distribution of Adult Family Income"