When a couple marries and one partner ceases to receive a wage, how is GDP affected?

When one partner in a couple decides to no longer receive a wage due to marriage, it generally leads to a decrease in GDP. This is because GDP, which measures the total monetary value of all final goods and services produced within a country during a specific period, includes the value of all salaries and wages paid for labor. If one partner stops working and therefore stops contributing a wage to the economy, the overall production and income in the economy effectively decrease, assuming no offsetting gains from the increased productivity of the household or the value of unpaid domestic labor.

In essence, the withdrawal from the formal labor market means that a portion of economic output is no longer being captured in the GDP figures, leading to a decline. The economic activities that might be carried out within the household, while still valuable, typically do not count towards GDP unless they are part of the formal economy. Thus, the correct understanding is that GDP decreases when one partner ceases to contribute wages.