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Is the male marriage premium due to selection? The effect of shotgun weddings on the return to marriage

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Author Info
Donna Ginther
Madeline Zavodny

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Abstract

In standard cross-sectional wage regressions, married men appear to earn 10 to 20 percent more than comparable never-married men. One proposed explanation for this male marriage premium is that men may be selected into marriage on the basis of characteristics valued by employers as well as by spouses or because they earn high wages. This paper examines the selection hypothesis using a "natural experiment" that may make marital status uncorrelated with earnings ability for some men. We compare the estimated marriage premium between white men whose first marriages are followed by a birth within seven months and other married white men in the United States. Married men with a premarital conception generally have a lower return to marriage than other married men. Our results suggest that a substantial portion of the marriage premium is due to selection.

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Paper provided by Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta in its series Working Paper with number 97-5.

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Date of creation: 1998
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Publication status: Published in Journal of Population Economics, June 2001
Handle: RePEc:fip:fedawp:97-5

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Keywords: Demography ; Wages;

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Cornwell, Christopher & Rupert, Peter, 1997. "Unobservable Individual Effects, Marriage and the Earnings of Young Men," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 35(2), pages 285-94, April.
  2. Bennett, N.G. & Bloom, D.E. & Craig, P.H., 1989. "The Divergence Of Black And White Marriage Patterns," Discussion Papers 1989_22, Columbia University, Department of Economics.
  3. Kermit Daniel, . "A Note on Mark Testa, et al., "Employment and Marriage Among Inner-City Fathers"," University of Chicago - Population Research Center 89-3a, Chicago - Population Research Center.
  4. Blackburn, McKinley & Korenman, Sanders, 1994. "The Declining Marital-Status Earnings Differential," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 7(3), pages 247-70, July.
  5. Meyer, Bruce D, 1995. "Natural and Quasi-experiments in Economics," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 13(2), pages 151-61, April.
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  6. Behrman, Jere R & Taubman, Paul, 1986. "Birth Order, Schooling, and Earnings," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(3), pages S121-45, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Daniel, K., 1991. "Does Marriage Make Men More Productive?," University of Chicago - Economics Research Center 92-2, Chicago - Economics Research Center.
  8. Griffin, Peter & Ganderton, Philip T., 1996. "Evidence on omitted variable bias in earnings equations," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 139-148, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Akerlof, George A & Yellen, Janet L & Katz, Michael L, 1996. "An Analysis of Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing in the United States," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 111(2), pages 277-317, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Angrist, Joshua D, 1995. "Introduction to the JBES Symposium on Program and Policy Evaluation," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 13(2), pages 133-36, April.
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Alison Booth & Jeff Frank, 2008. "Marriage, partnership and sexual orientation: a study of British university academics and administrators," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 6(4), pages 409-422, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Katherin Barg & Miriam Beblo, 2008. "Does Marriage Pay More than Cohabitation?: Selection and Specialization Effects on Male Wages in Germany," SOEPpapers 82, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP). [Downloadable!]
  3. Irwin Garfinkel & Sara S. McLanahan & Sarah O. Meadows & Ronald B. Mincy, 2009. "Unmarried Fathers’ Earnings Trajectories: Does Partnership Status Matter?," Working Papers 1133, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing.. [Downloadable!]
  4. Zijl, Marloes & van den Berg, Gerard J & Heyma, Arjan, 2004. "Stepping-stones for the unemployed: The effect of temporary jobs on the duration until regular work," Working Paper Series 2004:19, IFAU - Institute for Labour Market Policy Evaluation. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Esfandiar Maasoumi & Daniel L. Millimet & Dipanwita Sarkar, 2008. "Who Benefits from Marriage?," Emory Economics 0807, Department of Economics, Emory University (Atlanta). [Downloadable!]
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  6. Nabanita Datta Gupta & Nina Smith & Leslie S. Stratton, 2005. "Is Marriage Poisonous? Are Relationships Taxing? An Analysis of the Male Marital Wage Differential in Denmark," IZA Discussion Papers 1591, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Bratti, Massimiliano & Mancini, Luca, 2003. "Differences in Early Occupational Earnings of UK Male Graduates by Degree Subject: Evidence from the 1980-1993 USR," IZA Discussion Papers 890, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Joyce P. Jacobsen, 2008. "Accommodating Families," Wesleyan Economics Working Papers 2008-004, Wesleyan University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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