The Death of Marriage? The Effects of New Forms of Legal Recognition on Marriage Rates in the United States

Marcus Dillender

Demography, 2014, vol. 51, issue 2, 563-585

Abstract: Some conservative groups argue that allowing same-sex couples to marry reduces the value of marriage to opposite-sex couples. This article examines how changes in U.S. legal recognition laws occurring between 1995 and 2010 designed to include same-sex couples have altered marriage rates in the United States. Using a difference-in-differences strategy that compares how marriage rates change after legal recognition in U.S. states that alter legal recognition versus states that do not, I find no evidence that allowing same-sex couples to marry reduces the opposite-sex marriage rate. Although the opposite-sex marriage rate is unaffected by same-sex couples marrying, it decreases when domestic partnerships are available to opposite-sex couples. Copyright Population Association of America 2014

Keywords: Same-sex marriage; Legal recognition for couples; Family economics; Marriage rates (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (22)

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DOI: 10.1007/s13524-013-0277-2

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