Education and Union Formation as Simultaneous in Italy and Spain

Author: Lucia Coppola

Source: European Journal of Population/ Revue europenne de Dmographie, Volume 20, Number 3, September 2004 , pp. 219-250(32)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Both the time spent in education and the age at first union have substantially increased in Italy and Spain. We show that exit from education and union formation are simultaneous processes. We use the European Community Household Panel providing standardised information. The effect of unobserved characteristics on both processes is controlled for using simultaneous hazard modelling. We find that the exit from education increases the risk of entering the first union, and that individual unobserved characteristics influence the occurrence of the two processes simultaneously. Ignoring these characteristics would overestimate the effect of exit from education on union formation.

Keywords: education; first union; Italy; simultaneous hazard models; Spain

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10680-004-1781-2

Affiliations: 1: ISTAT – Italian National Institute of Statistics, Via Cesare Balbo 16, Roma, 00184, Italy

Publication date: 2004-09-01