In Becker's (1973) neoclassical marriage market model, matching is positively assortative if types are complements: i.e. match output is supermodular. We reprise this famous result assuming time-intensive partner search and transferable output. We prove existence of a search equilibrium with a continuum of types, and then characterize matching. After showing that Becker's conditions no longer suffice for assortative matching, we find sufficient conditions valid for any search frictions and type distribution: supermodularity not only of match output, but also of its marginal product and cross partial derivative. Symmetric submodularity conditions imply negatively assortative matching. Examples show these conditions are necessary.
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Article provided by Econometric Society in its journal Econometrica.
Volume (Year): 68 (2000) Issue (Month): 2 (March) Pages: 343-370 Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML,
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