The ups and downs of marriage in Austria

The author examines reasons for fluctuations in marriage patterns in Austria since 1950. "We propose to investigate here not only the immediate impact of these perturbations in terms of first marriage rates, non-marital fertility and legitimations, but also the possible longer-term effects, by studying proportions never married in birth cohorts and fertility and divorce rates in marriage cohorts; finally, we shall consider total fertility trends for the most recent period." The impact of changes in Austria's fiscal policy with regard to newlyweds is considered.