Why Young Adults Retreat from Marriage? An Easterlin Relative Income Approach

Georgios Mavropoulos () and Theodore Panagiotidis
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Georgios Mavropoulos: Department of Economics, University of Macedonia, http://www.uom.gr/en/eco

Discussion Paper Series from Department of Economics, University of Macedonia

Abstract: Eastelin’s hypothesis stresses the importance of relative income for young adults. We examine the impact of young men’s relative income on marriage rates. The latter is investigated by employing data for the United Stated that spans the period 1981–2016. The evidence reveals a positive and statistically significant relationship between young men’s relative income and marriage rates (for males, females, and both). Relative income has a greater impact on marriage than absolute income for three out of four of the methods employed. Causality runs from relative income to marriage in five out of six cases examined. We infer that young adults are more likely to get married if they feel affluent relative to the level of their material aspirations formed by large in childhood.

Keywords: marriage; relative income; Easterlin hypothesis. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J11 J12 J19 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-01, Revised 2020-01
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