Authors
Abstract
Average females’ age in the first marriage was increasing in Iran over the last two decades from 20.9 in 1991 to 22.7 in 2010. It is well accepted that labor market prospects and the males’ wage structure are the main determinants of preference toward marriage among others. Making use of a province-wide panel data and micro individualized data (Household income and expenditure survey) for provinces, this research aims to examine the role of males’ wage inequality in the marriage rate across provinces and the probit cross-section models of preferences toward marriage in Iran. In the framework of search and match theory of marriage our findings reveal that wage inequality and gender ratio have negative impact on the marriage decision, but males’ wage over females has positive and significant effect on the marriage rate and marriage decision. These results are rather robust across the several cross-section probit models.
Keywords
)