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Why Young Adults Retreat from Marriage? An Easterlin Relative Income Approach

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Abstract

Eastelin’s hypothesis stresses the importance of relative income for young adults. We examine the impact of young men’s relative income on marriage rates. The latter is investigated by employing data for the United Stated that spans the period 1981–2016. The evidence reveals a positive and statistically significant relationship between young men’s relative income and marriage rates (for males, females, and both). Relative income has a greater impact on marriage than absolute income for three out of four of the methods employed. Causality runs from relative income to marriage in five out of six cases examined. We infer that young adults are more likely to get married if they feel affluent relative to the level of their material aspirations formed by large in childhood.

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  • Georgios Mavropoulos & Theodore Panagiotidis, 2020. "Why Young Adults Retreat from Marriage? An Easterlin Relative Income Approach," Discussion Paper Series 2020_01, Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, revised Jan 2020.
    • Handle: RePEc:mcd:mcddps:2020_01
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    marriage; relative income; Easterlin hypothesis.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J19 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Other

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