The “Marriage Premium”

Article
January 27, 2012

In this EconLog post, George Mason University economics professor Bryan Caplan observes that the “college earnings premium” is said to be 34%, but that the “marriage premium” for men is substantially higher — 44%. So if it is good policy to promote college attendance and graduation because people will earn more, why not do the same for marriage? The “marriage premium” helps to show the silliness of the notion that just because someone does something (getting a college degree, getting married), he will therefore vault into a higher earnings bracket.

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