Written by Esa A Asyahid, Staff of Research and Development Department
As muslims, we often hear either based on hadith or Quran verses that encourage to marriage and also state that marriage could increase one’s sustenance (Rizq). Despite the notion that religion’s propositions are valid by themselves, one may ask by what logic this outcome can be reached. Here, we are going to see that marriage can actually bring people to better-off their condition and that it will boost the economic development at macro level.
The Advantages of marriage
The benefits from marriage had been analyzed by several economists. Martin Browning et.al. in his book ‘Economics of The Family’ proposed five potential material gains from marriage. First, marriage will allow the partners to share their own public goods to each other in a relatively cheaper rather than they acquire it individually. They can live in a home together, share the same information, and enjoy raising their child together. Second, it implies the division of labor among the partners. Therefore, they can impose upon the comparative advantages by specializing their jobs. After marriage, the man need no cooking or doing laundry by himself instead his wife will do. He can be more focused on his work to earn more income. The third benefit is it can generate credit and coordination of investment activities. For instance, the partner can work while the other is in school. Fourth, marriage is a tool for risk pooling. If one of the partners is in difficulty, it will share the lost altogether. At last but not the least, married couples can coordinate child care.
Many researchers had examined the advantages of marriage. Wilcox and Lerman, in their study on family structure and its impact on economic condition in America found that married man and woman enjoy substantially higher incomes compared to their single peers. The higher income referes to ‘marriage premium’ has actually been increasing over time in two last decades (Kist and Hu, 2010). The health status has also been found better in married man and woman because they have more economic resources than their single counterpatrs (Hahn 1993).
Marriage and Economic Growth
Now, we have understood that marriage can bring the betterment of economic well-being at individual level. The question is will this enhancement at micro level affect the economy at macro level? By using a simple logic, we can predict that the rising of incomes due to ‘marriage premium’ will raise the purchasing power simultaneously and therefore the consumption expenditure elevated. This factor, along with better coordination by married couples on investment leads to the augmentation in GDP.
A study by Wilcox et which compared several economic indicators among US states with different marital characteristics resulting a conclusion that higher levels of marriage are strongly associated with more economic growth. Besides the point, a higher level of marriage is also correlated with more economic mobility, less child poverty, and higher median family income. Moreover, crime rates are commonly lower in states with larger shares of families headed by married parents. This is an important finding as a lower crime rates is associated with higher mobility and economic growth.
What should we do, then?
After exposed by those argument, one probably will conclude that we shall marry as soon as possible. Yet, I argue that this is not a fully right decission. Marriage is not as simple as buying a new shirt. We have to solve many problems before going to that steps. As we all guess, one of the problems exist is finding the right partner. This is important because the gains from marriage can only be enjoyed when the marriage is in a well condition. If there are severe crashes between the partner, it will result in loss instead of gain. Therefore, a well-plan is needed so that our marriage will bring a great deal of benefit, not only to us and our lovely soulmate but also to our economy.
References
Hahn, B. A. (1993). Marital Status and Women’s Health: The Effect of Economic Marital Acquisitions. Journal of Marriage and Family, 55(2), 495–504.
http://ebooks.cambridge.org/chapter.jsf?bid=CBO9781139015882&cid=CBO9781139015882A019
https://econ.duke.edu/uploads/assets/Undergraduate/Past%20Honors%20Theses/HalleyHansFinalDraft.pdf
https://www.aei.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/IFS-HomeEconReport-2015-FinalWeb.pdf