Public attitudes and policies toward LGBTQ individuals have improved substantially in recent decades. Economists are actively shaping the discourse around these policies and contributing to our understanding of the economic lives of LGBTQ individuals. In this paper, we present the most up-to-date estimates of the size, location, demographic characteristics, and family structures of LGBTQ individuals in the United States. We describe an emerging literature on the effects of legal access to same-sex marriage on family and socioeconomic outcomes. We also summarize what is known about the size, direction, and sources of wage differentials related to variation in sexual orientation and gender identity. We conclude by describing a range of open questions in LGBTQ economics.

This paper analyzes how the legalization of same-sex marriage in the U.S. affected gay and lesbian couples in the labor market. Results from a difference-in-difference model show that both partners in same-sex couples were more likely to be employed, to have a full-time contract, and to work longer hours in states that legalized same-sex marriage. In line with a theoretical search model of discrimination, suggestive empirical evidence supports the hypothesis that marriage equality led to an improvement in employment outcomes among gays and lesbians and lower occupational segregation thanks to a decrease in discrimination towards sexual minorities.

We analyze revealed and stated household preferences for socially responsible investments (SRI). Using a questionnaire specifically designed for this purpose and administered to a Dutch representative household panel, we investigate the actual and latent demand for SRI products. Respondents reported whether they owned SRI products and why or why not, but also answered stated choice questions on traditional investments and hypothetical socially responsible products with an explicit return penalty and/or an inkind compensation associated with lower return. Our results show that investors attracted by socially responsible financial products are more interested in the social product as such and show little interest in compensation. The magnitude of the penalty for investing in SRI is not diluting their investment intentions.Given the increasing size of Social Responsible Investments, the room for financial products with a specific devolution, i.e. going into a well-specified program, is of special interest for the financial industry.Our analyses aim to answer two main research questions. First, while most studies on the consumers' interest in SRI focus on financial market participant, we aim at analyzing the potential demand for specific SRI products in the complete population, using a representative survey of the Dutch adult population with questions on actual SRI investing and on hypothetical choices between specific SRI and non-SRI products. Using a representative sample is a clear advantage as it does not limit the size of the market and is also informative on the preferences of individuals who indirectly invest in financial assets, e.g. through their mandatory occupational pension.Second, we want to investigate whether potential investors accept a higher cost associated to ethical products (i.e. lower return or higher risk) or are just driven by the possibility of a higher return and see SRI as a good investment "niche" in the market. To this end, in the stated choice questions, two possible products are proposed: the first offers a lower monetary return due to the donation component, the second compensates more for the social choice, albeit with a non-monetary compensation (in kind).Results of our research are important for a large and diversified set of investors. Indeed consumer preferences for SRI are not only relevant for households who directly invest in financial markets. In the Netherlands, and many other countries with fully funded pensions, most individuals and households also save through mandatory participation in an occupational pension fund. In the Netherlands, most of these pensions are of a defined benefit nature, where the pension fund decides how participants' retirement savings are invested. Recent reform plans, however, tend towards increasing choice opportunities for participants, and one of the issues that has come up in this context is to give participants a say in the extent to which their pension savings will be invested in socially responsible products (de Beer et al, 2014). This raises...