De huwelijksbonus in Nederland

Using data from the first wave and second wave of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (N = 915), I analyze whether there is a difference in the Netherlands between unmarried heterosexual men and married heterosexual men with regard to the growth in income during a maximum of five years. Ordinary least squares regression analyses show that the income of married men does not increase more than the income of unmarried men between wave 1 and wave 2. One proposed explanation for the marriage wage premium is that men may be selected into marriage on basis of characteristics, like education and religion, valued by spouses. Because there is no marriage wage premium the consequence is that it could not be explained by education and religion. However men who are high educated experienced more growth in income than low educated men. A second explanation for the marriage wage premium is that married heterosexual men have more opportunities to specialize in labor market activities than unmarried men, because their spouses specialize in home production. Results are not consistent with the explanation. There is however a wage premium for cohabiting men which cannot be explained by selection and specialization. In the past it was not unlikely that highly educated men married low educated women, but nowadays, given the expansion of educational opportunities, highly educated men tend to marry highly educated women and low educated men tend to marry low educated women. In general low educated men and women have more traditional attitudes, which implies that their marriages are more likely to conform to the breadwinner model. High educated men and women have less traditional attitudes, implying that they often both work and there is less specialization between the two spouses. Given the greater division of tasks, one would expect that low educated men have more growth in income than highly educated men. The results are not consistent with the explanation.