Abstract
Since 1995, labor economists have reported on the income disparities between individuals who engage in same-sex behavior and those that do not. Many of these papers report a significant wage penalty, while others find no effect, but few look at the trend over time. We find, using National Health and Examination Survey (NHANES) data from 1988 to 2007, that the income gap has reversed over time from a penalty to a premium.
•We study the disparity in income between single behaviorally straight and behaviorally gay men living alone.•Many previous studies found a penalty for behaviorally gay men.•Using recent data, we find that, if a penalty existed, it is no longer present in the data.
