Abstract
This study investigated health premium of marriage among middle-aged and older Japanese. Using a unique longitudinal micro dataset for Japanese aged 45–80 years in 2007, we applied a dynamic panel data model and utilized both subjective and objective health indicators for 4,386 observations from 2008 to 2012. We found significant marriage–health premium among middle-aged Japanese, while the evidence for older Japanese was inconclusive. This is the first study addressing the endogeneity between marriage and health to confirm the protective effect of marriage on health for middle-aged and older people in Japan, which sounds an alarm for Japanese health policies facing the late marriage and rising divorce rates owing to the receding economy and shifting social norms.
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