Never married and earnings: evidence from Russia
International Journal of Social Economics
ISSN: 0306-8293
Article publication date: 6 November 2020
Issue publication date: 13 November 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of civil status on wage earnings in post-Soviet Russia. Education and work experience are the key explanatory variables according to the Mincer function. In view of that, here, an extension of the Mincer equation is estimated, focusing on never married individuals versus other civil status (married people). Thus, testing the female wage penalty and the male wage premium hypotheses.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on dynamic panel data models, underlining the autoregressive nature of earnings, controlling for time-invariant independent variables and adding marriage as an explanatory variable. The models are estimated using longitudinal data over the years 2000–2017, taken from the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey.
Findings
The results indicate that never married Russians do not obtain higher levels of wage earnings in comparison with those who are married or correspond to other civil status. However, there is evidence supporting a wage premium for men and weak evidence of a penalty for women. That is, the regression results indicate a wage penalty for never married men and a wage premium for never married women, yet this last finding is not robust. Therefore, the general findings of this research only partially agree with the most recent evidence in developed countries, where marriage is not anymore associated with wages.
Originality/value
These findings are highly relevant for public policies related to family development, a major concern for the Russian Government during the last two decades. There is a common idea that avoiding marriage is associated with intentions to obtain higher levels of earnings, but this is a problem of myopia.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The author thanks anonymous reviewer for critically reading the manuscript and suggesting substantial improvements. He is also grateful to Juan Francisco Padilla Aguirre and all participants of the Especialidad en Antropología y Ética (2018-2019), at the Universidad Panamericana.
Citation
Tovar-García, E.D. (2020), "Never married and earnings: evidence from Russia", International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 47 No. 12, pp. 1513-1526. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSE-10-2019-0606
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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