An Analytically Based Two-Sex Marriage Model and Maximum Likelihood Estimates of its Parameters: Austria, 1979

Sanderson, W.C. (1981). An Analytically Based Two-Sex Marriage Model and Maximum Likelihood Estimates of its Parameters: Austria, 1979. IIASA Working Paper. IIASA, Laxenburg, Austria: WP-81-130

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Abstract

A parameterized model of family formation, with applicability in both economics and demography is presented here. The model itself is a marriage of economic and demographic analysis. On the economic side, the model is based on a formal characterization of the "marriage market" and makes use of what economists call the "extended linear expenditure system." On the demographic side, the model makes use of the analytic nuptiality function developed by Coale and McNeil. The resulting specification with 13 easily interpretable parameters, is applied to the patterns of nuptiality observed in Austria in 1979. The plausibility of the maximum likelihood parameter estimates as well as the measures of goodness-of-fit indicate that the model can tentatively be accepted as a new tool for the study of the family.

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