Does Marriage Make People Happy, Or Do Happy People Get Married?

Alois Stutzer and Bruno Frey

No 143, IEW - Working Papers from Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - University of Zurich

Abstract: This paper analyzes the causal relationships between marriage and subjective well-being in a longitudinal data set spanning 17 years. We find evidence that more happy singles opt more likely for marriage and that there are large differences in the benefits from marriage between couples. Potential, as well as actual, division of labor seems to contribute to spouses' well-being, especially for women and when there is a young family to raise. In contrast, large differences in the partners' educational level have a negative effect on experienced life satisfaction.

Keywords: division of labor; marriage; selection; subjective well-being (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 I31 J12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cbe, nep-lab and nep-ltv
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (310)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Does marriage make people happy, or do happy people get married? (2006)
Working Paper: Does Marriage Make People Happy, Or Do Happy People Get Married? (2005)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zur:iewwpx:143

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