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The Role of Paternity Presumption and Custodial Rights for Understanding Marriage Patterns
Author(s) -
Edlund Lena
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
economica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.532
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1468-0335
pISSN - 0013-0427
DOI - 10.1111/ecca.12035
Subject(s) - surrender , presumption , fertility , economics , demographic economics , child support , psychology , sociology , law , demography , political science , population
In marriage, men obtain and women surrender parental rights because: (i) by default, an unmarried woman giving birth is the child's only known parent and sole custodian; (ii) a married mother shares custody with her husband and the presumed father; (iii) custody allocation in marriage is fixed; (iv) private contracts on rights over children amount to trade in children and have limited legal validity. As a result: (i) women, not men, marry up; (ii) higher income has opposite effects on men's and women's willingness to marry; (iii) out‐of‐wedlock fertility results when trade is not feasible.