Working Paper: NBER ID: w26875
Authors: Daniel S. Hamermesh; Scott Delhommer
Abstract: Same-sex couples’ marital surplus, their excess total income over that predicted by their work times and predicted wages, increases little as the duration of their relationship lengthens. When/where same-sex marriage is legal, it rises sharply as duration increases. The availability of legal domestic partnership or civil union has no effect on the surplus. The likelihood of home ownership conditional on demographic characteristics also increases with partnerships’ duration only when/where same-sex marriage is legal. These results, based on data from the American Community Survey 2013-17, support the notion that greater legal protection enhances partners’ incentives to invest in their relationship.
Keywords: same-sex couples; marital surplus; legal environment
JEL Codes: J12; J16; K30
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Legal changes enhancing the security of partnerships (K36) | Partners' incentives to invest in their relationships (E22) |
| Partners' incentives to invest in their relationships (E22) | Marital surplus (J12) |
| Legalizing same-sex marriage (K16) | Marital surplus (J12) |
| Legalizing same-sex marriage (K16) | Family income (D31) |
| Legalizing same-sex marriage (K16) | Likelihood of home ownership (R21) |
| Time spent under legal same-sex marriage (J12) | Marital surplus (J12) |
| Time spent under legal same-sex marriage (J12) | Family income (D31) |
| Time spent under legal same-sex marriage (J12) | Likelihood of home ownership (R21) |
| Additional years under legalized domestic partnership (J12) | Family income (D31) |
| Additional years under legalized domestic partnership (J12) | Likelihood of home ownership (R21) |
| Legal recognition (K29) | Economic outcomes (F69) |