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Who marries whom in a surging housing market?☆

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  • Sun, Ang
  • Zhang, Qinghua

Abstract

This paper investigates the impact of a surging housing market on marital sorting. Our empirical analysis shows that there is increasing assortativeness on original family background in response to housing price appreciation. That is, for husbands, when the down payment doubles, one more year of paternal schooling predicts a marriage in which the father-in-law’s schooling is 0.057 year greater than in a scenario in which the down payment does not increase. The rising assortativeness could exacerbate the already expanding inequality caused by the booming housing market. In addition to the benchmark analysis, we find that a divorce reform, which awards assets proportionate to the shares the spouses paid for the initial down payment (rather than awarding equal shares) upon divorce, alleviates assortativeness. The evidence suggests that joint investment in housing is likely to be a significant consideration in marital sorting.

Suggested Citation

  • Sun, Ang & Zhang, Qinghua, 2020. "Who marries whom in a surging housing market?☆," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 146(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveco:v:146:y:2020:i:c:s0304387820300675
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2020.102492
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    Cited by:

    1. Hong Liu & Lili Liu & Fei Wang, 2023. "Housing wealth and fertility: evidence from China," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 359-395, January.
    2. Dong, Xinwei, 2022. "Intrahousehold property ownership, women’s bargaining power, and family structure," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    3. Xu, Yuanwei & Wang, Feicheng, 2022. "The health consequence of rising housing prices in China," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 200(C), pages 114-137.
    4. Li Han & Xinzheng Shi & Ming-ang Zhang, 2022. "How Does Matching Uncertainty Affect Marital Surplus? Theory and Evidence from China," HKUST CEP Working Papers Series 202202, HKUST Center for Economic Policy.
    5. Ya Gao & Rob Alessie & Viola Angelini, 2023. "Parental housing wealth and children’s marriage prospects in China—evidence from CHARLS," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 21(2), pages 615-644, June.
    6. Xing, Chunbing & Yuan, Xiaoyan & Zhang, Junfu, 2022. "City size, family migration, and gender wage gap: Evidence from rural–urban migrants in China," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Marriage matching; Credit constraint; Inequality; Housing market;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand

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