Male Earnings, Marriageable Men, and Nonmarital Fertility: Evidence from the Fracking Boom
利用2000年代页岩气开采带来的经济冲击，研究发现男性收入增加提高了婚内和非婚生育率，但并未提高结婚率，与1970-80年代阿巴拉契亚煤炭繁荣的经验形成对比。
We investigate whether an increase in the potential earnings of men leads to an increase in marriage and a reduction in nonmarital births by exploiting the positive economic shock associated with fracking in the 2000s. A reduced-form analysis reveals that in response to local-area fracking production, which increased wages and jobs for non-college-educated men, both marital and nonmarital birth rates increase, but marriage rates do not. The pattern of results is consistent with positive income effects on births but no associated increase in marriage. We contrast our findings to the Appalachian coal boom experience of the 1970s and 1980s.