$100K: The Monetary Value Of A Happy Marriage

Annually, that is. And yes, economists calculate everything.

"To ‘compensate’ for a major life event such as being widowed or a marital separation, it would be necessary -- this calculation should be treated cautiously but it illustrates the size of the coefficients -- to provide an individual with approximately $100,000 extra per annum. Viewing widowhood as an exogenous event, and so a kind of natural experiment, this number may be thought of as the ‘value’ of marriage."

Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/marriage-is-worth-100000-annually-2011-5?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+businessinsider+%28Business+Insider%29#ixzz1NOXhtM1h