Are Pornography and Marriage Substitutes for Young Men?

Michael Malcolm () and George Naufal
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Michael Malcolm: West Chester University of Pennsylvania

No 8679, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Substitutes for marital sexual gratification may impact the decision to marry. Proliferation of the Internet has made pornography an increasingly low-cost substitute. We investigate the effect of Internet usage, and of pornography consumption specifically, on the marital status of young men. We show that increased Internet usage is negatively associated with marriage formation. Pornography consumption specifically has an even stronger effect. Instrumental variables and a number of robustness checks suggest that the effect is causal.

Keywords: divorce; marital formation; pornography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 O33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 40 pages
Date: 2014-11
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published - published in: Eastern Economic Journal, 2016, 42 (3), 317-334

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