Who Marries Differently-Aged Spouses? Earnings, Ability and Appearance

Hani Mansour () and Terra McKinnish

No 6678, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: In direct contrast to conventional wisdom and most economic models of gender differences in age of marriage, we present robust evidence that men and women who are married to differently-aged spouses are negatively selected. Earnings analysis of married couples in the 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990 and 2000 Decennial Censuses finds that male earnings decrease with within-couple age difference, regardless of whether the man is older or younger than his wife. In contrast, female earnings increase with within-couple age difference, but this is due to the fact that women with differently-aged spouses work more hours not because they command higher wages. We test for negative selection into differently-aged couples using three measures: average earnings per hour in occupation using Census data, cognitive skills assessments from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 cohort (NLSY79), and measures of physical appearance from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). The point estimates indicate negative selection on all of these characteristics, although statistical significance varies by outcome and sample.

Keywords: age difference; selection; marriage markets (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 42 pages
Date: 2012-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-lab and nep-ltv
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Published - published in: Review of Economics and Statistics, 2014, 96(3), 577-580

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Related works:
Working Paper: Who Marries Differently-Aged Spouses?: Earnings, Ability and Appearance (2011)
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