Marital Wage Premium or Ability Selection? The Case of Taiwan 1979-2003

Abstract

The study of factors determining wages has been an important topic in the field of labor and family economics in the past few decades. Among different factors that account for individual wage differentials, marital status has received special attention. There are at least two competing hypotheses that explain the male marriage premium: the specialization hypothesis and the selection hypothesis. Using the Taiwan Quasi Longitudinal Data Archive (1979-2003), my estimation results support the selection hypothesis; most of the marital remium can be explained by pre-existing productivity differentials between married and unmarried men. In addition, I found that the male marital premium varies among different age groups and it also varies among different geographical areas