Productivity, wages, and marriage: The case of major league baseball

Arbeitspapier

Using a sample of professional baseball players from 1871-2007, this paper aims at analyzing a longstanding empirical observation that married men earn significantly more than their single counterparts holding all else equal (the marriage premium). Baseball is a unique case study because it has a long history of statistics collection and numerous direct measurements of productivity. Our results show that the marriage premium also holds for baseball players, where married players earn up to 16 percent more than those who are not married, even after controlling for selection. The results hold only for players in the top third of the ability distribution and post 1975 when changes in the rules that govern wage contracts allowed for players to be valued closer to their true market price. Nonetheless, there do not appear to be clear differences in productivity between married and nonmarried players. We discuss possible reasons why employers may discriminate in favor of married men.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 5695

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials ; Professional Labor Markets; Occupational Licensing ; Labor Discrimination: General
• Subject: marriage premium ; wage gap ; productivity ; baseball

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Cornaglia, Francesca ; Feldman, Naomi E.
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2011

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/51718
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-201105173317
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:45 AM CET