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Partner Choice and the Marital College Premium: Analyzing Marital Patterns Over Several Decades

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  • Chiappori, Pierre-André
  • Salanié, Bernard
  • Weiss, Yoram

Abstract

We construct a structural model of household decision-making and matching and estimate the returns to schooling within marriage. We consider agents with idiosyn- cratic preferences for marriage that may be correlated with education, and we allow the education levels of spouses to interact in producing joint surplus. Using US data on marriages of individuals born between 1943 and 1972, we show that the preference for assortative matching by education has significantly increased for the white population, particularly for highly educated individuals; but not for blacks. Moreover, in line with theoretical predictions, we find that the ?marital college-plus premium? has increased for women but not for men.

Suggested Citation

  • Chiappori, Pierre-André & Salanié, Bernard & Weiss, Yoram, 2015. "Partner Choice and the Marital College Premium: Analyzing Marital Patterns Over Several Decades," CEPR Discussion Papers 10403, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10403
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    9. Gary S. Becker, 1974. "A Theory of Marriage," NBER Chapters, in: Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital, pages 299-351, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Moro, Alessio & Moslehi, Solmaz & Tanaka, Satoshi, 2017. "Marriage And Economic Development In The Twentieth Century," Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 83(4), pages 379-420, December.
    2. Alena Bičáková & Štěpán Jurajda, 2017. "Gender composition of college graduates by field of study and early fertility," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(4), pages 1323-1343, December.
    3. Bicakova, Alena & Jurajda, Štepán, 2016. "Field-of-Study Homogamy," IZA Discussion Papers 9844, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Rania Gihleb & Kevin Lang, 2020. "Educational Homogamy and Assortative Mating Have Not Increased," Research in Labor Economics, in: Change at Home, in the Labor Market, and On the Job, volume 48, pages 1-26, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    5. Eva Raiber & Weiwei Ren & Jeanne Bovet & Paul Seabright & Charlotte Wang, 2023. "What Do Parents Want? Parental Spousal Preferences in China," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 71(3), pages 903-939.
    6. Kuan‐Ming Chen & Yu‐Wei Hsieh & Ming‐Jen Lin, 2023. "Reducing Recommendation Inequality Via Two‐Sided Matching: A Field Experiment Of Online Dating," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 64(3), pages 1201-1221, August.
    7. Nie, Haifeng & Xing, Chunbing, 2019. "Education expansion, assortative marriage, and income inequality in China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 37-51.
    8. Matthew Wiswall & Basit Zafar, 2016. "Human Capital Investments and Expectations about Career and Family," NBER Working Papers 22543, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Pavel Jelnov, 2018. "A New Estimator of Search Duration and Its Application to the Marriage Market," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 80(6), pages 1089-1116, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    College premium; Marriage;

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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