Dissertations

Dissertation Committee:
Peter Katuščák (chair)
Byeongju Jeong
Avner Shaked

Abstract:

The first chapter of this work develops a theoretical model of marriage market which complements existing models explaining the phenomenon of match separation. While existing models assume that agents' characteristics do not change over time, I account for the effect of aging on partners' wealth and physical attractiveness to introduce yet another explanation of the phenomenon of divorce. Furthermore, I use the model to analyze how increased female income prospects influence stability of the matches.

The objective of the second chapter is to analyze significance of different determinants of match separation proposed by matching market theory. First, we construct unique dataset from Czech ballroom dancing association records, which allows us to assess the quality of individual matches by evaluating dancers' performance throughout their career. Being able to observe the match quality helps us then to individually infer about the potential cause of match separation and to show that both prevalent theories of reason for match separation discussed in the theoretical literature, search frictions and initial uncertainty about match quality, play a significant role in reality and both should be taken into account when match separations are studied.

The last chapter concentrates on the effect of growing internet usage on the marriage hazard rate for first time marriages. First, I compute the age and gender specific marriage hazard rate for 21 European countries from 1990 to 2008. The consecutive panel data analysis reveals a negative impact of internet usage on both male and female marriage hazard rate for those in their twenties. In addition, I find that the identified effect is only slightly stronger for men but remains significant to higher age when compared women results.

Full Text: “Essays on Matching Markets” by Mário Vozár