Inflation and Marriage in Israel

Abstract

At the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s, inflation in Israel exceeded 100 percent. Using the twenty percent samples of the 1972, 1983, 1995, and 2008 Israeli Census, we show that inflation had a substantial negative effect on the decision to marry. More specifically, we show that high inflation influenced marriage by creating economic uncertainty. Without the episode of high inflation, the decline in marriage would have been delayed for several years. We also show that there were educational differences in the effect of inflation on marriage formation.