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

Leora Friedberg and Elliott Isaac

No 16022, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

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.

Keywords: Medicaid; Social Security; marriage; same-sex marriage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H55 I13 J12 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 37 pages
Date: 2023-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-age
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Published - published in: National Tax Journal, 2023, 76 (3), 679-706

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Journal Article: Marriage in Old Age: What Can We Learn About Policy Impacts on Same-Sex Couples? (2023)
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