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Title: Valuable Vows: An Examination of the Marriage Premiums Using Same-Sex Marriage Legalization

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2013

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Abstract: We utilize U.S. same-sex marriage legalization to reexamine the unresolved question of why married men earn higher wages than comparable unmarried men. If this marriage premium operates similarly for homosexual men as it does for heterosexual men, the new-found availability of same-sex marriage creates a unique opportunity to study the determinants of the premium. Using census and ACS data, we fi nd that same-sex marriage legalization in several states is associated with signfi cant increases in the wages of resident gay males. We detect little evidence of productivity-related explanations, suggesting employer discrimination may be the primary cause of the premium.

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Authors: Jackson, Osborne; Burn, Ian

Publisher: University of California-Irvine

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Family and Marriage

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