Symbolism Matters: The Effect of Same-Sex Marriage Legalization on Partnership Stability

Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper 2019-055/V

32 Pages Posted: 5 Aug 2019

See all articles by Shuai Chen

Shuai Chen

University of Leicester - School of Business; IZA Institute of Labor Economics; Global Labor Organization (GLO)

Jan van Ours

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Erasmus School of Economics (ESE)

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Date Written: July 30, 2019

Abstract

We study the effect of marriage on the stability of formal partnerships exploiting same-sex marriage legalization in the Netherlands as a natural experiment. Same-sex marriage legalization allowed registered partnerships to be transformed into marriage. Since registered partnerships and marriages are similar in terms of rights and obligations we can investigate the effect of marital symbolism on the partnership stability. Using rich administrative data, we find that same-sex marriage legalization had two different effects. First, it increased the separation rate of existing same-sex registered partnerships. Second, partnerships that were transformed into marriage had a substantially lower separation rate. We take the second finding as evidence of the symbolic effect of marriage stabilizing partnerships.

Keywords: Same-sex marriage, registered partnership, separation, duration analysis

JEL Classification: K36, J12, J16, J15

Suggested Citation

Chen, Shuai and van Ours, Jan, Symbolism Matters: The Effect of Same-Sex Marriage Legalization on Partnership Stability (July 30, 2019). Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper 2019-055/V, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3430596 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3430596

Shuai Chen (Contact Author)

University of Leicester - School of Business ( email )

University Road
Leicester, Leicestershire LE1 7RH
United Kingdom

IZA Institute of Labor Economics ( email )

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

Global Labor Organization (GLO) ( email )

Collogne
Germany

Jan Van Ours

Erasmus University Rotterdam (EUR) - Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) ( email )

P.O. Box 1738
3000 DR Rotterdam, NL 3062 PA
Netherlands

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