Are There Gains to Delaying Marriage?

The Effect of Age at First Marriage on Career Development and Wages

David S. Loughran, Julie Zissimopoulos

Published Dec 8, 2004

Age at first mariage has risen dramatically since the mid-1960s among a wide spectrum of the U.S. population. Researchers have considered many possible explanations for this trend. Few, though, have asked why individuals should want to delay marriage in the first place. One possibility is that early marriage inhibits the career development of one or both individuals in a marriage. This hypothesis is tested using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979. Using panel data methods that exploit longitudinal variation in wages and marriage timing, the authors estimate that delaying marriage increases hourly wages of women by nearly four percent for each year they delay. Marriage timing has no impact on the wages of men. They find that delaying marriage may have costs as well. All else equal, women who delay marriage marry spouses with lower wages.

Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: RAND Corporation
  • Availability: Web-Only
  • Year: 2004
  • Pages: 40
  • Document Number: WR-207

Citation

RAND Style Manual
Loughran, David S. and Julie Zissimopoulos, Are There Gains to Delaying Marriage? The Effect of Age at First Marriage on Career Development and Wages, RAND Corporation, WR-207, 2004. As of September 11, 2024: https://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WR207.html
Chicago Manual of Style
Loughran, David S. and Julie Zissimopoulos, Are There Gains to Delaying Marriage? The Effect of Age at First Marriage on Career Development and Wages. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation, 2004. https://www.rand.org/pubs/working_papers/WR207.html.
BibTeX RIS

This research was supported by the National Institute for Child Health and Human Development and conducted by RAND Labor and Population.

This publication is part of the RAND working paper series. RAND working papers are intended to share researchers' latest findings and to solicit informal peer review. They have been approved for circulation by RAND but may not have been formally edited or peer reviewed.

This document and trademark(s) contained herein are protected by law. This representation of RAND intellectual property is provided for noncommercial use only. Unauthorized posting of this publication online is prohibited; linking directly to this product page is encouraged. Permission is required from RAND to reproduce, or reuse in another form, any of its research documents for commercial purposes. For information on reprint and reuse permissions, please visit www.rand.org/pubs/permissions.

RAND is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.