PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Carter, Susan Payne
AU  - Wozniak, Abigail
TI  - Making Big Decisions: The Impact of Moves on Marriage among U.S. Army Personnel
AID  - 10.3368/jhr.59.1.0919-10429R1
DP  - 2021 May 13
TA  - Journal of Human Resources
PG  - 0919-10429R1
4099  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2021/05/04/jhr.59.1.0919-10429R1.short
4100  - http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2021/05/04/jhr.59.1.0919-10429R1.full
AB  - We use exogenously determined, long-distance relocations of U.S. Army soldiers to investigate the impact of moving on marriage. In an event study analysis, we find that marriage rates increase sharply around the time of a move. Reduced form exposure analysis reveals that an additional move over a five year period increases the likelihood of marriage by 14 percent, a magnitude similar to those in observational data on civilians. Moves increase childbearing by a similar magnitude, suggesting that marriages induced by a move are formed with long-term intentions. We explore implications of our findings for theories of marriage related to search, bargaining, and decision-making costs.