Sorting on the Marriage and the Labor Market

We analyze the interplay between individuals' family choices and marriage sorting on the one hand, and work choices and \textit{labor market sorting} on the other: Our main objective is to understand how labor market choices (in particular, the sorting of individuals into particular jobs/occupations and the number of hours worked) affect family and marriage decisions, including risk-sharing within the household as well as the division of family responsibilities. Similarly, we analyze how marriage sorting (that is, who marries whom) and family decisions affect the career prospects, hours worked in the labor market as well as occupational sorting of both partners. Ultimately, we would like to understand whether the interaction between marriage and labor market choices can shed light on several well-documented gender gaps in earnings, hours, labor force participation and occupational choices. The project has three components. First, we document facts relating to the marriage and the labor market, and the link between the two. In a second part, we rationalize the empirical facts with an equilibrium model that features both endogenous marriage partner and endogenous job choices, i.e. sorting in both markets. This model clarifies the mechanisms linking the marriage and the labor market choices of men and women. And in a third component, it we will use the model to quantify how much of the gender disparities in labor market outcomes are linked to marriage partner choices and the implied division of household responsibilities.