Does single pregnancy adversely affect infant health? This is a challenging research question because there is selection in coresidence during pregnancy. We exploit quasi-natural variation in single pregnancy from the moment of conception to birth, arising from the reform of the marriageable age laws in Korea. The Korean birth certificate data are unique. They provide the information about the coresidence status in addition to the legal marital status. The coresidence start date allows us to identify the intensity of coresidence during pregnancy. We find that coresidence or legal marriage during pregnancy does not significantly affect birth outcomes.

We study marital assortative mating in education and its relation to dowry in India. There are four main results and contributions of this paper. First, instrumental variable estimates using Indian Human Development Survey-II data suggest existence of positive assortative mating in education levels of husband and wife. Second, this association is weaker in dowry-prominent districts suggesting that in districts with strong patriarchal norms, high dowry transfers could substitute for lower bride's education. Third, we study the independent effect of husband's and wife's education and its interaction on dowry. Estimates suggest that dowry rises with the groom's education and falls with the bride's schooling years. However, the joint effect of husband-and-wife education on dowry is negative, implying that though dowry rises with groom's education, the rate of increase is smaller the more educated the bride is. Finally, to explain the empirical results, we propose a theoretical model of assortative mating in the presence of dowry.

In this paper, I address the U-shaped dynamics (a decrease followed by an increase) in the age at first marriage during the twentieth century. First, I show that the U-shaped dynamics have been steeper in Western that in other countries. Second, I find that these dynamics in the West are strongly related to the post-World War II (WWII) economic growth. By contrast, in the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries age of marriage was much less correlated across Western countries. I propose a simple model where age of marriage is a function of search frictions and married women's labor force participation. Both factors put together generate U-shaped dynamics as a result of an industrial boom that mimics the post-WWII Western economic development.

We compare the trajectories of families who have a child with poor neonatal health compared to those who do not, using administrative birth record data merged with longitudinal household survey data. We apply entropy balancing and weighting methods to enhance comparison between the two types of families. We find that children with poor neonatal health are more likely to be diagnosed with a disability and to receive Supplemental Security Income. Mothers who have children with poor neonatal health are more likely to reduce labor force participation at both the intensive and extensive margins when the child is young. Further, they are more likely to receive benefits from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. We find no significant effects of poor neonatal health on maternal mental health or household income. Parents who have children with poor neonatal health are significantly less likely to remain married or cohabiting.

This study examines the degree of educational assortative mating, its evolution, and its relationship with income inequality in Thailand using national labor force survey data from 1985 to 2016. Since the 1990s, Thailand shows a trend of decreasing educational homogamy, but there is evidence of continuing educational hypergamy in Thai households. Using the semiparametric decomposition method of DiNardo, Fortin and Lemieux (1996), the study finds that educational assortative mating has affected changes in household income inequality over time. Furthermore, there exists a negative relationship between income inequality and marital sorting with same education, which contradicts evidence found in developed countries.