Work in Progress
- Child Outcomes in Cohabiting vs. Married Families: Does Marital Status Matter?
Authors: Pablo Rosa, Cristina Borra
Abstract: This paper investigates the impact of family structure on early-life outcomes and its implications for the intergenerational transmission of inequality. Exploiting the staggered introduction of regional laws in Spain recognizing stable partnerships (“Leyes de Parejas de Hecho o Parejas Estables”), we leverage a quasi-experimental design to estimate the causal effects of incentivizing cohabitation over marriage on children’s health outcomes. Our results indicate that these laws significantly increased the likelihood of entering a cohabiting union, but only among women who were at the margin of marrying; the policy had no discernible effect on the probability of single motherhood. Drawing on detailed administrative data from birth certificates, we provide robust evidence that the enactment of these laws did not lead to significant changes in health outcomes at birth. In contrast to prior studies based on correlational evidence, our results indicate that observed disparities are unlikely to result from partnership status itself, and instead reflect underlying socioeconomic factors or selection mechanisms shaping cohabitation decisions.
Invited Seminars
- Universidad Pablo de Olavide - 2025.
- Universidad de Granada - 2025.
Conference Presentations / Workshops
- 50th Simposio De La Asociación Española De Economía (SAEe) - 2025, Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona.
- Early Career & PhD Workshop on SocioEconomic Mobility and Public Policies (WEIPO) - 2025, Universidad de Alcalá.
- The 2025 annual meeting of the Society of Economics of the Household (SEHO) - 2025, Universidad de Zaragoza.
Upcoming