title: Climate and marriage in the Netherlands, 1871-1937.
abstract: Environmental factors such as climate variability can place significant constraints on demographic behavior in a range of settings. However, few studies investigate the relationships between demography and climate in historical contexts. Using longitudinal individual-level demographic data from the Historical Sample of the Netherlands (HSN) and climate and economic data from 1871-1937, we examine the effects of climate variability on marriage. This analysis reveals that marriage increases with negative environmental conditions such as cold temperatures, riverine flooding, and high rye prices. These findings are not consistent with a Malthusian narrative of marriage behavior, or with the expectation that environmental constraints were stronger in the historical past.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anthropology, University at Albany, State University of New York, 1400 Washington Ave., 237 Arts and Sciences, Albany, NY 12222.
authors.forename: Julia A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Jennings
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Campus Box 3220, Chapel Hill, NC 27599.
authors.forename: Clark L
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Gray
keywords: Event history analysis; Marriage timing; climate variation; the Netherlands