The decisions of the Spanish youth : a cross-section study

Abstract

The paper presents a simultaneous model for the joint decisions of working, studying and leaving the parental household by young people in Spain. Using cross-section data from the 1990-1991 Encuesta de Presupuestos Familiares, the model is estimated by a two stage estimation method. Endogeneity of the three decisions proves to be important to understand the dynamics of household formation. Our results also confirm a number of plausible intuitions about the effect of demographic and economic characteristics on these decisions, illustrate important behavioural differences between men and women, and provide some new insights about the reasons for young people in Spain to remain in large numbers in the parental home.