Why married men earn more?

Abstract

This thesis examines the question why married men earn more than men who have never been married. Several theories offer the explanation of this phenomena, most important are the productivity hypothesis and the selection hypothesis. Using longitudinal data from the NSLY97 (National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997) this thesis try to prove that the better health of married men is the source of the premium. Regression analysis shows that hourly wage of married men is in contrast with unmarried higher about 32,8 %. After including controlling variables for education or number of children wage premium drops to 7,7 %, but still remains statistically significant. However the analysis doesn't prove that better health is the reason for the existence of this wage premium