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Waiting for Mr Right

New research from CEPR, Discussion Paper No 3388, shows that increasingly wide wage differentials of males in the USA account for around 30% of the marriage rate decline over the last few decades. The evidence presented in the study shows that women will tend to spend longer searching for a husband the greater the inequality of male wages in their locality.

  • "We expect these results apply to other developed countries, particularly the UK, where there has also been considerable increases in wage inequality, " says Professor Eric Gould of Hebrew University, Israel and CEPR.

  • Using data from 1970, 1980 and 1990 Censuses the study explains the marital decisions of white women and finds a strong positive relationship between male wage inequality and the probability of a women being single.

  • The results are consistent with the idea that women wait longer to get married when there is higher male wage inequality, in the hope of receiving a marriage offer from a richer partner.

  • The results suggest that increased inequality accounts for up to 30% of the decline in female marriage rates since 1970.

  • This result is not due to women working harder in cities with high wage inequality and is not due to women moving to cities with high wage inequality.

  • The explanation of women spending longer searching for their first or second husband in cities with a wide wage dispersion is significant over all age and education groups.

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