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Essays in the economics of couples
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Florence : European University Institute, 2025
EUI; ECO; PhD Thesis
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ROMAN BLANCO, Olatz, Essays in the economics of couples, Florence : European University Institute, 2025, EUI, ECO, PhD Thesis - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/78243
Abstract
This thesis contains three independent essays studying family, labour market, and geographic mobility decisions of couples. The first chapter, which is joint work with Belén Rodríguez-Moro, introduces a novel measure of relationship quality (RQ), designed to capture the non-material benefits of being in a couple. Despite its theoretical significance in family economics, empirical analyses on match quality have been limited by measurement challenges. Using longitudinal survey data from the United Kingdom, we construct and validate this measure, demonstrating its predictive power for marital transitions and its strong correlation between partners. We provide descriptive evidence on the evolution of RQ with age and relationship tenure, as well as its association with observable characteristics, aiming to inform assumptions commonly made in theoretical models. In the second chapter, also co-authored with Belén Rodríguez-Moro, we use this measure to study the impact of childbearing on relationship quality. Leveraging variation in the timing of first child birth, we perform a dynamic difference-in-differences analysis, finding a significant and persistent decrease in RQ after childbirth. This decline is attributed to unexpected changes in household specialization, as traditional gender roles prevail after birth regardless of the prior task division. Couples experiencing larger shifts in task allocation suffer more substantial drops in RQ. The third chapter examines the influence of joint geographic constraints on couples’ migration decisions. Introducing novel measures of geographic concentration and overlap between partners’ occupations, I find that highly concentrated occupations restrict mobility, although this is mitigated when partners’ occupations overlap geographically. I uncover gender differences in occupational choices, with men generally in more concentrated occupations, although women, especially college-educated ones, have increasingly selected geographically concentrated jobs. A shift-share decomposition shows that the recent decline in couple migration is driven primarily by changes in migration patterns, rather than by shifts in couple composition regarding partners’ occupations.
Table of Contents
-- 1. Measuring relationship quality
-- 2. Children, household specialization and relationship quality
-- 3. The geography of jobs and couple migration
-- References
-- Appendix to Chapter 1
-- Appendix to Chapter 2
-- Appendix to Chapter 3
Additional Information
Defence date: 26 March 2025
Examining Board: Prof. Thomas Crossley (University of Michigan, Supervisor); Prof. Alexander Monge-Naranjo (European University Institute, Co-supervisor); Prof. Abi Adams (University of Oxford); Prof. Mónica Costa-Dias (University of Bristol)
Examining Board: Prof. Thomas Crossley (University of Michigan, Supervisor); Prof. Alexander Monge-Naranjo (European University Institute, Co-supervisor); Prof. Abi Adams (University of Oxford); Prof. Mónica Costa-Dias (University of Bristol)