Overview
Yoram Weiss (1943–2015) was a professor of economics at Tel Aviv University and a Research Associate at the Economics Research Center/NORC. He was one of the founders of the economics of the family, contributing foundational work on the formation and dissolution of marriages, household production theory, and the dynamics of earning capacity over the life cycle. His collaboration with Robert J. Willis on marital dissolution is a key reference in the marriage literature.
Key Contributions / Features
- Weiss and Willis (1997, JOLE): Separated the roles of initial marital sorting and post-marriage earning-capacity surprises in predicting divorce using NLS-72 panel data; found surprises dominate sorting; documented the asymmetric stabilizing/destabilizing effects of husband's vs. wife's unexpected income gains. See Weiss and Willis 1997 — Match Quality, New Information, and Marital Dissolution.
- Weiss and Willis (1985): "Children as Collective Goods" — modeled children as a marital public good whose underprovision after divorce (custodial parent doesn't internalize the other's preferences) is a principal cost of dissolution and a stabilizing force during marriage.
- Weiss and Willis (1993): "Divorce Settlements: Evidence and Interpretation" — empirical analysis of post-divorce financial arrangements.
- Handbook of Population Economics chapter: "The Formation and Dissolution of Families" — comprehensive review of the economics of marriage and divorce.
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