The Earnings Effects of Sexual Orientation
Abstract
This investigation of the effect of sexual orientation on earnings employs General
Social Survey data from 1989-96. Depending largely on the definition of sexual orientation
used, earnings are estimated as having been between 14% and 16% lower for gay men
than for heterosexual men, and between 20% and 34% higher for lesbian women than for
heterosexual women. This evidence, the authors suggest, is consistent with either
of two complementary constructions: Gary Becker's argument that male/female earnings
differentials are rooted in specialization within households and in optimal human
capital accumulation decisions individuals make when they are young; and Claudia Goldin's
observations about marriage-based gender discrimination, according to which the paternalistic
"protection" of wives and mothers from the world of work has tended to overlook lesbians.
Type
Journal articlePermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/2564Collections
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Show full item recordScholars@Duke
Seth G. Sanders
Professor of Economics
Professor Sanders specializes in the fields of economics and public policy. His research
focuses specifically on four different lines of study, which include the trends of
race and gender in relation to earnings among the highly educated; the effects of
extreme economic changes on workers and families; the performance of gay and lesbian
families within the economy; and the economic consequences of teenage childbearing.
He has received numerous grants for his research, including several from the
This author no longer has a Scholars@Duke profile, so the information shown here reflects
their Duke status at the time this item was deposited.

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