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Marriage Meets the Joneses: Relative Income, Identity, and Marital Status

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Abstract

This paper investigates the effect of relative income on marriage. Accounting flexibly for absolute income, the ratio between a man's income and a local reference group median is a strong predictor of marital status, but only for low-income men. Relative income affects marriage even among those living with a partner. A ten percent higher reference group income is associated with a two percent reduction in marriage. We propose an identity model to explain the results.

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  • Tara Watson & Sara McLanahan, 2010. "Marriage Meets the Joneses: Relative Income, Identity, and Marital Status," Department of Economics Working Papers 2010-06, Department of Economics, Williams College.
    • Handle: RePEc:wil:wileco:2010-06
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    File URL: https://web.williams.edu/Economics/wp/WatsonMcLanahanMarriageMeetsTheJoneses.pdf
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    Keywords

    marriage; relative income; inequality; identity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

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