Are Married Women Really Wealthier Than Unmarried Women? Evidence From Japan

Using microdata from the Japanese Panel Survey of Consumers, this article examines the relationship between marriage and wealth among women. By exploiting unique data on personal wealth, it also assesses whether the wealth effect of marriage differs depending on whether wealth is measured as household or personal wealth, an issue that very few studies have examined. When wealth is measured as equivalized household net worth, on the assumption that married couples share household resources equally, marriage is found to contribute to women's wealth holdings but only to their nonfinancial net worth; however, the results show signs that marriage also contributes to women's total net worth as marriage durations increase. By contrast, when wealth is measured as personal net worth based on the actual ownership of assets, marriage is found to be negatively and significantly associated with women's wealth holdings. These findings underscore the fact that Japanese women are potentially in a financially vulnerable position even after marriage, which is at least partly driven by married women's career disruptions arising from their family responsibilities.