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Title: Is There a Female Marriage Premium? A Semi-Parametric Longitudinal Analysis

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2010

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Abstract: Empirical research has consistently shown that married males earn more than single, never-married males.Similar research for women has been scarce and previous literature, based on data from the 1980's and1990's found little or no impact of marriage on female wages. This paper provides the rst in-depth study offemale marriage premium, using two semi-parametric techniques that have not been applied to the marriagepremium literature previously. Selection on observable attributes such as education is examined using cross-section propensity score matching methods. Selection on unobservable characteristics is explored usingHeckman's conditional di erence-in-di erence model. Both techniques create a quasi-experimental dataset, without imposing functional form assumptions or exclusion restrictions. Unlike previous literature, thisstudy uses recent data, from 2001-2007 waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID). The resultsindicate that women with higher earning potential are more likely to get married, leading to a positive andsigni cant marriage premium amounting to 11 percent. The premium is earned only by women with atleast a few years of college education. Black women earn 9 percentage points higher premium than Whitewomen. The results, in light of earlier evidence suggest an interesting development in the female marriagepremium which has important implications on the gender role specialization and division of labor practicedwithin families, speci cally in the presence of children.

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Authors: Nanda, Neha

Publisher: Florida State University

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Gender

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