On marriage-specific human capital: its role as a determinant of remarriage.

"This paper focuses on the determinants of the likelihood and timing of remarriage for women: which characteristics of women and their first unions are conducive to quick remarriage and which are associated with low remarriage probabilities?... By analyzing the role of transferable marriage-specific capital as an asset, the present paper suggests a reinterpretation of past results and shows that such human capital constitutes an important component of women's gains from remarriage....[It] studies the determinants of remarriage separately for white and black women. The effects of the duration of first union and the presence of children from that union on remarriage probabilities are found to differ by race, results which can be interpreted within the context of the model developed here." Data from the 1982 U.S. National Survey of Family Growth are used to test the model. excerpt