Does Marriage Make You Healthier?

39 Pages Posted: 22 Nov 2014 Last revised: 25 Sep 2024

See all articles by Nezih Guner

Nezih Guner

Charles III University of Madrid; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Yuliya Kulikova

Autonomous University of Barcelona

Joan Llull

Autonomous University of Barcelona - MOVE (Markets, Organizations and Votes in Economics); Autonomous University of Barcelona; Barcelona Graduate School of Economics (Barcelona GSE)

Abstract

We use the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) to study the relationship between marriage and health for working-age (20 to 64) individuals. In both data sets married agents are healthier than unmarried ones, and the health gap between married and unmarried agents widens by age. After controlling for observables, a gap of about 12 percentage points in self-reported health persists for ages 55-59. We estimate the marriage health gap non-parametrically as a function of age.If we allow for unobserved heterogeneity in innate permanent health, potentially correlated with timing and likelihood of marriage, we find that the effect of marriage on health disappears at younger (20-39) ages, while about 6 percentage points difference between married and unmarried individuals, about half of the total gap, remains at older (55-59) ages. These results indicate that association between marriage and health is mainly driven by selection into marriage at younger ages, while there might be a protective effect of marriage at older ages. We analyze how selection and protective effects of marriage show up in the data.

Keywords: marriage, selection, health

JEL Classification: I10, I12, J10

Suggested Citation

Guner, Nezih and Kulikova, Yuliya and Llull, Joan, Does Marriage Make You Healthier?. IZA Discussion Paper No. 8633, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2529342

Nezih Guner (Contact Author)

Charles III University of Madrid ( email )

CL. de Madrid 126
Madrid, Madrid 28903
Spain

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

Yuliya Kulikova

Autonomous University of Barcelona ( email )

Plaça Cívica
Cerdañola del Valles
Barcelona, Barcelona 08193
Spain

Joan Llull

Autonomous University of Barcelona - MOVE (Markets, Organizations and Votes in Economics) ( email )

Campus de Bellaterra-UAB Edifici B (s/n)
EDIFICI B
Cerdanyola del Vallès
, Barcelona 08193
Spain

Autonomous University of Barcelona ( email )

Plaça Cívica
Cerdañola del Valles
Barcelona, Barcelona 08193
Spain

Barcelona Graduate School of Economics (Barcelona GSE) ( email )

Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
Barcelona, Barcelona 08005
Spain

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