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The determinants of marital happiness

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  • Bruce T. Elmslie
  • Edinaldo Tebaldi

Abstract

This study contributes to the literature by providing an empirical analysis of the determinants of marital and general happiness. The empirical analysis is conducted using US data from the General Social Survey (GSS) and an Ordered Probit Model. We also attempt to overcome the endogeneity problem between marital happiness and infidelity using a recursive bivariate probit model. One of the advances of this study is to show that the determinants of marital happiness differ between men and women in interesting ways. While infidelity has similar effects for both sexes, we find that women have a detectable preference for a traditional division of labour within the household. In addition, social class, religion, age, children and income have differential effects between men and women. In particular, for marital happiness we find diminishing returns from household income for women and satiation for men. Hence, we find that most of the existing literature has left hidden important differences in the determinants of marital happiness between men and women.

Suggested Citation

  • Bruce T. Elmslie & Edinaldo Tebaldi, 2014. "The determinants of marital happiness," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(28), pages 3452-3462, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:46:y:2014:i:28:p:3452-3462
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2014.932047
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    Cited by:

    1. Batabyal, Amitrajeet & Beladi, Hamid, 2016. "Cheating on Your Spouse: A Game-Theoretic Analysis," MPRA Paper 75758, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Adrian Chadi & Clemens Hetschko, 2021. "How Job Changes Affect People's Lives — Evidence from Subjective Well‐Being Data," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 279-306, June.
    3. Jigme Nidup & Simon Feeny & Ashton Silva, 2018. "Improving Well-Being in Bhutan: A Pursuit of Happiness or Poverty Reduction?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 140(1), pages 79-100, November.
    4. Yuanlin Gu & Hua-Liang Wei, 2018. "Significant Indicators and Determinants of Happiness: Evidence from a UK Survey and Revealed by a Data-Driven Systems Modelling Approach," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(4), pages 1-12, March.
    5. Qingyan Tong & Chi-Yang Chu & Dong Zhou & Yulei Feng, 2021. "Does Internet Connectedness Disconnect Marriage? A Micro Empirical Analysis," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 158(1), pages 143-176, November.
    6. Amitrajeet A. Batabyal, 2018. "Marital Infidelity: A Game-Theoretic Analysis," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 16(1), pages 227-233, March.
    7. Dinah Abdel Fattah, 2017. "Three essays on young married women in Egypt," Economics PhD Theses 0217, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.

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