Same-sex couples’ marital surplus, their excess total income over that predicted by their work times and expected wages, increases little as the duration of their relationship lengthens. When/where same-sex marriage is legal, it rises sharply as duration increases. The availability of legal domestic partnership or civil union has no effect on the surplus. The likelihood of home ownership conditional on demographic characteristics also increases with partnerships’ duration only when/where same-sex marriage is legal. These results, based on data from the American Community Survey 2013 to 2017, support the notion that greater legal protection enhances partners’ incentives to invest in their relationship, producing gains for society in the form of higher tax revenues, larger inheritances, and more stable communities.

中文翻译：

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同性伴侣和婚姻的收益：法律环境的重要性

同性伴侣的婚姻盈余，即他们的总收入超过他们的工作时间和预期工资所预测的总收入，随着他们关系持续时间的延长而几乎没有增加。当/在哪里同性婚姻是合法的，它会随着持续时间的增加而急剧上升。合法的家庭伙伴关系或民事结合的可用性对盈余没有影响。仅当同性婚姻合法时，以人口特征为条件的房屋所有权的可能性也随着合伙关系的持续时间而增加。这些结果基于 2013 年至 2017 年美国社区调查的数据，支持这样一种观点，即更大的法律保护会增强合作伙伴对他们的关系进行投资的动机，从而以更高的税收收入、更大的遗产和更稳定的形式为社会带来收益社区。