Is there a ‘marriage premium’ for gay men?

It is well-known that married men earn more than comparable single men, with typical estimates of the male marriage premium in the range of 10–20%. Some research also finds that cohabiting men earn more than men not living with a female partner. This study uses data from the General Social Survey and the National Health and Social Life Survey to examine whether a similar premium accrues to gay men who live with a male partner and whether cohabiting gay men have different observable characteristics than non-cohabiting gay men. Controlling for observable characteristics, cohabiting gay men do not earn significantly more than other gay men or more than unmarried heterosexual men. Cohabiting heterosexual men also do not earn more than non-cohabiting heterosexual men.

Why do married men earn more: productivity or marriage selection?

Using data from the Current Population Survey March Supplement 1999, this study examines why married men earn more than men who have never married. We find that the marriage wage premium cannot be attributed to the unobservable higher earnings capability of married men. Instead, wage gains from marriage are explained by the degree of specialization within the household. Our findings cast doubt on the argument that the selection of high-ability men into marriage is the cause of the marriage wage premium.     

Public–private wage differential and gender gap in Latin America: Spoiled bureaucrats and exploited women?

This paper uses a rich collection of household surveys to investigate the wage differential between the public and private sectors in 13 Latin American countries. It also studies how the sector of employment affects the gender wage gap. Contrary to what is commonly thought, it is found that, in the majority of Latin American countries, there is a premium associated with working in the public sector. It is also found that the premium is often higher for women than for men but that this difference does not compensate for the wide gender gap.     

Cohabitation Premium in Men’s Earnings: Testing the Joint Human Capital Hypothesis

This paper provides new evidence on the increase in wage earnings for men due to marriage and cohabitation (in the literature, commonly referred to as marital and cohabitation wage premiums for men). Using data for a sample of white men from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979, the paper shows that even after accounting for potential selection bias there is a cohabitation wage premium for men, albeit smaller than the marriage premium. Our analysis shows that a joint human capital hypothesis (a la Benham in J Polit Econ 82(2, Part 2):S57–71, 1974) with intra-household spillover effects of partner’s education can explain the existence of the wage premiums. Our estimates provide some empirical support for the joint human capital hypothesis.     

Self-employment,earnings, and sexual orientation

Although many studies document differences by sexual orientation in earnings and other labor-market outcomes, little is known about differences in self-employment. Our study contributes to both the self-employment literature and sexual-orientation literature by analyzing differences in self-employment rates and earnings by sexual orientation. Gay men are less likely to be self-employed than married men, whereas lesbians are equally likely to be self-employed as married women. We find that gay men earn less than married men. We do find, however, that for those gay men who are self-employed, there is little evidence of a further earnings penalty, at least among full-time workers. Lesbians earn at least as much as married women, but receive no further earnings premium—or penalty—by being self-employed, again among full-time workers.     

“Behind Every Great Man…”: The Male Marriage Wage Premium Examined Qualitatively

Studies across diverse national contexts reliably show that married men earn more than unmarried men, but the mechanisms responsible for this are still disputed. This article explores the male marriage wage premium from a new perspective, using longitudinal qualitative data from Russia (N = 94). Qualitative research is particularly suited to identifying underlying processes and, by analyzing men's accounts of the influence of their marital trajectories on their work, the authors were able to reexamine existing hypotheses and develop new ones. They propose 4 mechanisms that they hypothesize can influence men's work motivation and performance: premarital planning, 2 distinct “breadwinner” effects using expectancy and self determination theory, and monitoring by wives. They integrate these mechanisms within gender theory, arguing that the treatment aspect of the male marriage wage premium is an outcome of the “coproduction” of masculinity within marriage. Their recontextualization of existing theory also enables them to reveal weaknesses in the specialization hypothesis.     

Is there an Intermarriage Premium for Male Immigrants? Exogamy and Earnings in Sweden 1990–2009

This paper analyzes the impact of intermarriage on the economic integration of immigrants in Sweden, measured by annual earnings. We use longitudinal register data for the period 1990–2009 for the total population of immigrant men born 1960–1974. The results reveal large intermarriage premiums, but overall this seems to be a result of selection effects as most of the premium is visible already at the time of marriage. For the most economically marginalized immigrants, however, an intermarriage premium arises within marriage implying that forming a union with a native triggers a more rapid earnings growth among them.     

Raising network resources while raising children? Access to social capital by parenthood status,gender, and marital status

Does raising non-adult children facilitate or restrict access to social capital as network resources? Using data from a national sample of adults in the United States, I do not find evidence for the direct effect of parenthood on the three dimensions of social capital (diversity, extensity, and quality), but instead I find evidence for its interaction effects on the quality of social capital. There is marginal evidence that parenthood status is associated with the quality of social capital positively for men but negatively for women. There is evidence that parenthood status is associated with the quality of social capital positively for the married but negatively for the unmarried. Also parenthood status is associated with the quality of social capital negatively for unmarried women but positively for the other three gender-marital groups, in particular unmarried men. These findings suggest the structural interplay of parenthood status with gender and marital status, and indicate the motherhood penalty, the fatherhood premium, the single-parenthood penalty, the married-parenthood premium, and the single-motherhood penalty in reaching higher-quality, rather than more diverse and extensive, social capital.     

Cross-country disparities in skill premium and skill acquisition

Skilled individuals are rewarded more in poor than in rich countries. Why aren't more individuals acquiring skills in poor countries? We document that the unemployment rate of the skilled net of that of the unskilled decreases with a country's level of development. Using a matching model of occupational choice and skill acquisition, we quantify the role of barriers to enter entrepreneurship for these unemployment rates, skill premium and acquisition. The cross-country correlation between skill premium and acquisition decreases by 45% when each country's gap to the US in the entrepreneurship barrier is decreased enough to even the unemployment differential.     

Class Differences in Establishment Pathways to Fatherhood Wage Premiums

Organizations have been argued to favor fathers over childless men and skilled fathers over less‐skilled fathers, but group wage inequalities vary across as well as within establishments. This article theorizes class differences in the contribution of being employed in a high‐wage firm to the fatherhood wage premium. Analyses of linked employer–employee data from the Canadian Workplace and Employee Survey reveal that sorting into high‐wage establishments accounts for 60% of the economy‐wide premium for less‐educated and nonprofessional fathers, whereas high‐skilled fathers tend to work in lower wage establishments but receive the largest net fatherhood premium within firms. Among the subsample of fathers who changed employers in the past 5 years, less‐skilled fathers fared worse, whereas high‐skilled fathers sorted into high‐wage firms. Results thus suggest that employment in a higher wage firm likely enables less‐skilled men to transition to fatherhood, whereas high‐wage employers may discriminate in favor of only high‐skilled fathers in hiring.     

Is the beauty premium accessible to all? An experimental analysis

We conducted a trust game experiment to investigate whether women are trusted more when they wear makeup than when they do not. Facial attractiveness, which was manipulated through the application of makeup by a professional makeup artist, was measured before and after makeovers. Trustors were shown a photograph of their female counterparts before they made decisions about money transfers to trustees. The results showed that wearing makeup increased perceived attractiveness, which in turn led trustors to make larger transfers to female trustees during the trust game. Additionally, we discovered a pure makeup premium that was mediated by gender. Specifically, female trustees with makeup received larger transfers than female trustees without makeup when the trustors were men, even after controlling for female trustees’ levels of attractiveness.     

Gender, technology and jobs

Men have traditionally gained more than women from access to technologies at work which bring prestige, job security, more satisfying work and higher pay. Typically female jobs have centred on technologies, if they have at all, which tend towards routine and possibly deskilled work. Typing is a prime example. It is possible that this is changing through computerization, which is extensive but also equally distributed by gender. Does the wage premium, which use of a computer has been found to confer on users, benefit women sufficiently to suggest some sort of equalization through technology, or possibly even a female advantage? This is tested using data from four European countries. There is no across‐the‐board benefit from the use of computers. For both men and women it depends on the nature of their occupation. Some, more routine usages of computers are associated with a negative outcome. However, this occupational balance itself varies by gender.     

Sexual Risk Behaviors and Perceptions of Men Who Go to Gay Sex Parties in New York City: Comparisons Between Three HIV Groups

Men who have sex with men (MSM) who attend group-sex events often engage in risky sexual behaviors that contribute to the high human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) incidence among this population. We conducted an online survey with 211 New York City MSM who attended sex parties in the prior year and asked them to describe their behaviors and perceptions of risk. We compared responses from HIV-positive-undetectable men (n = 36), HIV-negative men on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP; n = 62), and HIV-negative men never on PrEP (n = 113). In bivariate analyses, undetectable and on-PrEP men had been to more sex parties in the prior six months, had more anal sex partners there, and had higher rates of sexually transmitted infection (STI) diagnoses than men never on PrEP. Although less than the other groups, 43% of the presumably HIV-negative men never on PrEP reported condomless anal sex at a party in the prior six months. About half of participants agreed that, at sex parties, they made assumptions about others’ HIV status, that they sometimes took more risks than intended, and that the atmosphere of these events was conducive to risk taking. Most disagreed that there was discussion of HIV status at sex parties. Implications for sexual health interventions are discussed.     

Men confronting death: Management versus self determination

Whereas the traditional hospital situation places a premium on inculcating an attitude of docility, compliance, and dependency on the part of the patient and his or her family, such attitudes are more often in direct conflict with the way in which most men in our society have been socialized. An understanding of how such gender role conditioning affects men's behavior would appear to have much value in offering more effective intervention procedures to terminally ill male patients and their families, and to men who are intimately involved with a terminally ill patient.This article is dedicated to my mother and father. The author greatly appreciates the skilled typing and clerical assistance of Connie Butler, the astute editorial suggestions of Laura Nagy, and the extremely helpful comments of Jean Sanville.     

Union wage premiums by gender and race: Evidence from PSID 1980–1992

We find that the overall union wage premium is relatively stable (ranging from 22.3 to 28.4 percent), but there seems to be a convergence of union wage premiums across different demographic groups between 1980 and 1992. Nonwhite men (whose premium ranges from 23.5 to 36.2 percent) show the largest gain, followed by white women (17.1 to 30.5 percent), white men (19 to 26.4 percent), and nonwhite women (10 to 20 percent). One explanation for this convergence of union wage premiums might be the “equalization hypothesis” associated with unions. This converging trend could have important implications for the future of unions. If union membership can explain a portion of the gender/racial wage gap, and if women/nonwhites can obtain, through union membership significant wage premia, increased female/nonwhite union participation in highly unionized sectors that offer high union wage gains could, in time, greatly decrease the gender/racial wage differential. This study was supported in part by National Science Foundation funds [OSR-9350540]. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Southern Economic Association conference in New Orleans in 1995. We thank Emilia Lulcheva and Michael Lauze for their able research assistance and William Warren for his valuable editorial comments on an earlier draft of this paper. The usual caveat applies.     

The Relationship Between Military Spending and Black Market Premium in Greece: An ARDL Approach

Recently, there are a few empirical studies relating to the military spending and other macro variables such as real exchange rate, unemployment rates, investment rates, budget, and inflation rates. We examine the relationship between military spending and black market premium, in the Greece using the autoregressive distributed lag approach for the time period 1954?C1998. Our results implied that higher military spending leads to higher black market premium and we concluded that while military spending does not Granger cause black market premium in the short run, black market premium does Granger cause military spending in the short run. When we examine the long-run results, ELC model implies that almost 30?% of the disequilibrium of the previous year??s shocks adjusts back to the long run equilibrium.     

Same job,different rewards: The gender pay gap among physicians in Italy

Women have made significant progress in the medical profession, but despite this trend towards equality, the gender pay gap persists. This study investigates the determinants of earning differentials among physicians in Italy. This analysis is based on a dataset of more than 1000 doctors working in five hospitals in the Lombardy region. Data were collected through an online survey with a response rate of 48.7 per cent. Women's concentration in the lower ranks of the career ladder, their lower propensity to work as private practitioners and their lower concentration in surgical specialties contribute to the gender income gap. Having children and a spouse or a cohabiting partner entails a premium on income for men, but no penalty for women, which suggests that positive discrimination towards fathers and husbands is stronger than negative discrimination towards mothers and wives. On the other hand, the gender gap associated with marital and parental status is stronger in public hospitals than in private hospitals, at least up to the second child. Once differences in characteristics are controlled, women earn 18 per cent less than men. This penalty should be ascribed to employer's discrimination and/or unobserved characteristics. These findings challenge the human capital perspective by calling for attention into the role of structural mechanisms in producing inequalities.     

Social Support to Parents‐in‐Law: The Interplay of Gender and Kin Hierarchies

Using data from a representative sample of middle‐aged married persons, we compare men's and women's contact and assistance to older parents‐in‐law and parents. Women have more visits and phone contact with their parents than do men, and men talk on the phone more with their in‐laws than do women. There are no gender differences in assistance patterns. Multivariate analysis shows that women contact and help parents more than in‐laws, whereas for men there are no such differences. There is little direct evidence that the presence of one set of parents affects relations with the other. Our findings suggest that although women clearly give priority to relations with their own parents, men experience pulls in both directions.     

The Labor Market Returns to AACSB Accreditation

We examine whether there is a wage premium from attending an AACSB accredited business college compared to a non-accredited business college. To estimate the returns to AACSB accreditation, we use data from the 1993/1994 Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study, which provides a rich set of control variables. The earnings regressions suggest that there is no wage premium associated with graduating from an AACSB accredited business college upon entry into the workforce.     

Marriage,partnership and sexual orientation: a study of British university academics and administrators

Using a unique data source on marital status, partnership and sexual orientation of academics and administrators at British universities, we estimate the impact of personal relationships upon earnings for men and women. While university data cover a relatively homogeneous group of workers, the two sides of the university are very different, with administrative jobs being more like the general job market in the economy. We find a large and significant married male premium, but only on the administrative side of the university. There is no female marriage premium, and no partnership return to gay men or to either heterosexual or homosexual women.