Estimating the Economic Boost of Marriage for Same-Sex Couples in Louisiana
Extending marriage to same-sex couples in Louisiana would generate an estimated $28.3 million in spending to the state economy. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the most recent data available, 8,076 same-sex couples live in Louisiana. Of those couples, the Institute estimates that fifty percent (4,038 couples) would choose to marry in the first three years, a pattern that has been observed in Massachusetts and elsewhere. The marriages that would occur in the first year alone would bring about $18.1 million in revenue to the state of Louisiana that year.
The Business Boost from Marriage Equality in Massachusetts: Evidence from the Health and Marriage Equality in Massachusetts Survey
This brief draws on two sources of data, a survey and state-collected tax revenue data, and finds that marriages have had a positive economic effect on Massachusetts – likely providing a boost of over $100 million to the state economy. Same-sex couples’ weddings injected significant spending into the Massachusetts economy and brought out-of-state guests to the state, whose spending also added to the economic boost.
THE ECONOMIC VALUE OF MARRIAGE FOR SAME-SEX COUPLES
In the five states and the District of Columbia that allow same-sex couples to marry, tens of thousands same-sex couples have taken advantage of the opportunity. The demand for marriage shows same-sex couples find marriage to be a valuable status, and studies of same-sex couples suggest they are quite similar to different-sex couples in both the economic and social needs that lead them to marry.