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Author: Bellido, Hector
Resulting in 4 citations.
1. Bellido, Hector
Marcen, Miriam
On the Relationship between Body Mass Index and Marital Dissolution
Economic Modelling 91 (September 2020): 326-340.
Also: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999319316621
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Body Mass Index (BMI); Marital Dissolution; Marital Stability

The economic literature on body mass index (BMI) and marital dissolution uses simple correlations to suggest that it is the latter than alters the former. We argue here that the opposite is also potential because the higher the BMI, the lower the remarriage potential and the greater the demand for health care, which should decrease the probability of marital dissolution. We empirically explore the role of BMI on marital dissolution showing that those who are overweight are more likely to stay married. This is maintained when we examine causality by exploiting the exogeneity of the dates in which data are collected combined with BMI's seasonality. Although BMI appears to stabilize marriage, this implies a reduction in the bargaining power of individuals with a high BMI in marriage, which, according to our findings, has a greater impact on White women.
Bibliography Citation
Bellido, Hector and Miriam Marcen. "On the Relationship between Body Mass Index and Marital Dissolution." Economic Modelling 91 (September 2020): 326-340.
2. Bellido, Hector
Marcen, Miriam
Molina, Jose Alberto
The Effect of Culture on Fertility Behavior of US Teen Mothers
Feminist Economics 22,3 (2016): 101-126.
Also: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13545701.2015.1120881
Cohort(s): NLSY79, NLSY97
Publisher: Routledge ==> Taylor & Francis (1998)
Keyword(s): Adolescent Fertility; Census of Population; Family Background and Culture; Fertility; Teenagers

This paper studies the impact of culture on the fertility behavior of teenage women in the US. To identify this effect, it took an epidemiological approach, exploiting the variations in teenage women's fertility rates by ancestral home country. Using three different databases (the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, the US National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, and the 2000 US Census), the results show that culture has quantitatively important effects on the fertility behavior of teenage women. This finding is robust to alternative specifications, to the introduction of a range of home country variables to proxy culture, and to the measurement of individual characteristics present when teenage women continue with a pregnancy to have a child.
Bibliography Citation
Bellido, Hector, Miriam Marcen and Jose Alberto Molina. "The Effect of Culture on Fertility Behavior of US Teen Mothers." Feminist Economics 22,3 (2016): 101-126.
3. Bellido, Hector
Molina, Jose Alberto
Solaz, Anne
Stancanelli, Elena G. F.
Do Children of the First Marriage Deter Divorce?
Economic Modelling 55 (June 2016): 15-31.
Also: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999316300037
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Elsevier
Keyword(s): Children; Divorce; Marital Stability; Marriage

In terms of economics, individuals divorce if their expected gains from marriage fall short of their expected utility outside the current marriage, and children represent a marriage-specific type of investment, which generally increases the value of marriage for the spouses. However, children may also disrupt marital stability as they will induce dramatic changes into the household allocation of money and time. In particular, children conceived before or after first marriage may be valued differently by the spouses and this may lead to marital conflicts. It is difficult to assign a priori the direction of the effect of children on marriage stability, and causality may run either way, as couples who anticipate a separation are more likely to have fewer children than those who are happy together, while children born before first marriage may be associated with a lower marriage attachment of their parents. Here, we follow an empirical approach and take advantage of the richness of the data on pre-marital history from the 24 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth79, to estimate the effect of children conceived before or after first marriage on marital stability. We find a significant deterrent effect of young children conceived during first marriage to the likelihood of divorce, while children conceived before first marriage are found to have a disruptive effect on marital stability.
Bibliography Citation
Bellido, Hector, Jose Alberto Molina, Anne Solaz and Elena G. F. Stancanelli. "Do Children of the First Marriage Deter Divorce?" Economic Modelling 55 (June 2016): 15-31.
4. Bellido, Hector
Molina, Jose Alberto
Solaz, Anne
Stancanelli, Elena G. F.
Which Children Stabilize Marriage?
IZA Discussion Paper No. 7858, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), December 2013
Cohort(s): NLSY79
Publisher: Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
Keyword(s): Children; Fertility; Marital Disruption; Marital Stability

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Children can be considered as a marriage-specific investment that increases the value of the marriage, making a divorce more costly. We exploit the richness of pre- and post-marital information from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 79, for the United States, to investigate the relation between fertility and marriage instability. In our model of marriage breakdown, we use the number of siblings of the respondent and, alternatively, multiple births, to instrument the number of children conceived during first marriage. Our results indicate that the presence of children significantly reduces the probability of marital disruption. In addition, the younger the children, the greater the deterrent effect. In contrast, we conclude that children conceived before first marriage increase the risk of marital disruption. Finally, the higher the parents' level of education, the larger the positive effect of fertility on marital stability.
Bibliography Citation
Bellido, Hector, Jose Alberto Molina, Anne Solaz and Elena G. F. Stancanelli. "Which Children Stabilize Marriage?" IZA Discussion Paper No. 7858, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), December 2013.