Mariani, FabioLiu, MiaoMiaoLiu2025-05-142025-05-142025-05-142019https://hdl.handle.net/2078.2/14237With the help of a collective bargaining model within couples, this paper develops a mechanism to jointly explain the rise of female relative income and the decline of marriage rates. As female relative income rises, economic growth and home production improvement foster women to spend less time at home and work more time in the labor market. Female financial independence and their labor market attachment lead to lower marriage rate. Followed by economic development and individual wealth increase, preferences for marriage have changed. Resorting to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory, people pursue marriages that satisfy their low (high) needs in poor (rich) economy, but high needs are more difficult to fulfill than low needs.female relative income risemarriage declineMaslow’s hierarchy of needstext::thesis::master thesisthesis:22609