Transitions from home to marriage of young americans

The paper examines the impact of income on the transitions between home, living independently and first marriage of young Americans. A matching model is outlined, similar to that used in theories of job search, to explain the probability of marriage and living alone. A multiple-state, multiple-transition model which allows for correlated heterogeneity on the first and subsequent transitions is estimated. The results show that income has a strong and significant effect. The impact of unobserved heterogeneity is examined in detail. The impact of the young person's earnings on the transitions is explored through simulation.