Sexual Orientation and Financial Well-being in the United States
Date
Authors
Carpenter, Christopher
Dasgupta, Kabir
Merchant, Zofsha
Plum, Alexander
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Elsevier
Abstract
We study the relationship between financial well-being and sexual orientation using the Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED) data for 2019–2022. We document that sexual minorities (people who are lesbian, gay, and bisexual, or LGB) have significantly more difficulty managing financially than similarly situated heterosexual individuals—and this pre-dated the COVID-19 pandemic. Differences are found across a broad array of current and future financial well-being outcomes, including retirement savings, rainy-day funds, credit card and schooling debts, and the use of alternative financial services such as payday loans. Differences in partnership, financial assistance from parents, financial knowledge, and risk preferences cannot explain these differences. Instead, we document that some social vulnerabilities, such as exposure to discriminatory behavior and violence, are differentially experienced by LGB people, which may play a role. Our results demonstrate that despite considerable improvements in attitudes and policies over time, sexual minorities in the United States experience significantly more financial insecurity than previously understood.Description
Keywords
1401 Economic Theory, 1402 Applied Economics, 1403 Econometrics, Economics, 3502 Banking, finance and investment, 3801 Applied economics, Sexual orientation, Financial well-being, Debt, Financial knowledge
Source
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, ISSN: 0167-2681 (Print); 1879-1751 (Online), Elsevier, 233. doi: 10.1016/j.jebo.2025.106967
Publisher's version
Rights statement
Under a Creative Commons license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Open access