%0 Report
        %A Fernández-Kranz, Daniel
%A Fontenay, Sébastien
        %T Childhood Exposure to Joint Custody Reforms and Adult Family Formation
        %D 2026
        %8 2026 Jul
        %I Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        %C Bonn
        %7 IZA Discussion Paper
        %N 18831
        %U https://www.iza.org/publications/dp18831
        %X Joint custody reforms are among the most consequential family-law changes for children, yet little is known about their long-term effects. Exploiting staggered adoption across US states and 13 million ACS observations, we show that childhood exposure reduces adult fertility by 7 percent, symmetrically for women and men and operates primarily through lower parenthood and couple formation. Effects are sub-additive within couples, while exposed individuals assortatively match. Our findings point to the formation of family preferences during childhood and align with a US fertility decline increasingly driven by rising childlessness and declining couple formation rather than smaller families among parents.
        %K fertility
%K joint custody
%K family law
%K household behavior
%K intergenerational transmission