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Marriage in Old Age: What Can We Learn about Policy Impacts on Same-Sex Couples?

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  • Friedberg, Leora
  • Isaac, Elliott

    (Tulane University)

Abstract

Recipiency of tax or transfer benefits in the United States often depends on marital status, creating complicated incentives that reward marriage for some and penalize it for others. Same-sex couples, who only recently gained the right to marry, now face the same marriage incentives that different-sex couples faced for decades. We highlight marriage incentives affecting older couples, who have rarely been studied. Using the American Community Survey, we estimate decreases in marriage among older, previously married women, which are consistent with remarriage disincentives from Social Security and marriage disincentives from Medicaid that are more salient for women.

Suggested Citation

  • Friedberg, Leora & Isaac, Elliott, 2023. "Marriage in Old Age: What Can We Learn about Policy Impacts on Same-Sex Couples?," IZA Discussion Papers 16022, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp16022
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Medicaid; Social Security; marriage; same-sex marriage;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • H55 - Public Economics - - National Government Expenditures and Related Policies - - - Social Security and Public Pensions
    • I13 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Insurance, Public and Private
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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