Title: Child Outcomes in Cohabiting vs. Married Families: Does Marital Status Matter?
Room: E22
Time: 12:30
Abstract: This paper examines the impact of family structure on early-life outcomes and its implications for the intergenerational transmission of inequality. Leveraging the staggered introduction of regional laws recognizing stable partnerships ((“Leyes de Parejas de Hecho o Parejas Estables”) in Spain, we exploit a quasi-experimental setting to estimate the causal effects of incentivizing cohabitation over marriage on children’s health outcomes. Our findings demonstrate that these laws significantly increased the likelihood of entering a cohabiting union. Using detailed administrative data from birth certificates, we provide robust evidence that the implementation of these laws did not translate into any significant changes in health outcomes at birth. Our findings imply that these disparities are unlikely to stem from the partnership status itself but rather from underlying socioeconomic factors or selection mechanisms driving cohabitation choices.