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The marital earnings premium: an IV approach

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  • Miguel Olivo-Villabrille

    (UNSW Sydney)

Abstract

Numerous studies find that married men earn more than single men. However, identifying whether and why marriage affects earnings is complicated by the fact that marriage market outcomes are jointly determined with potential earnings. As such, I exploit exogenous variation in marriage induced by the introduction of no-fault divorce laws in the USA to estimate the effect of marriage on the earnings of men. I find a 38% causal increase of marriage on earnings of husbands. This increase in earnings is explained by a large increase in labor market work after marriage. My findings are robust to the possibility of unobserved heterogeneity in the effect of marriage on earnings across individuals.

Suggested Citation

  • Miguel Olivo-Villabrille, 2022. "The marital earnings premium: an IV approach," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 709-747, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:62:y:2022:i:2:d:10.1007_s00181-021-02021-7
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-021-02021-7
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Marital earnings premium; Marriage; Divorce laws; Local average treatment effects;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • K36 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Family and Personal Law

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