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Like Attract Like? A Structural Comparison of Homogamy Across Same-Sex and Different-Sex Households

Author

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  • Edoardo Ciscato
  • Alfred Galichon

    (Département d'économie (ECON))

  • Marion Gousse

    (Département d'économie)

Abstract

In this paper, we extend the marriage market theory of Gary Becker to same-sex couples. Beckers's theory rationalizes the well-known phenomenon of homogamy among heterosexual couples: individuals mate with their likes because of complementarities in the household production function. However, asymmetries in the distributions of male and female characteristics set theoretical limits to assortativeness among heterosexual couples: men and women have to marry "up" or "down" according to the relative shortage of their characteristics among the populations of men and women. Yet, among homosexual couples, this limit does not exist as partners are drawn from the same population, and thus the theory of assortative mating boldly predicts that individuals will choose a partner with nearly identical characteristics. Empirical evidence suggests a very different picture: a robust stylized fact is that the correlation of characteristics is in fact weaker among the homosexual couples. In this paper, we build an equilibrium model of the same-sex marriage market which allows for straightforward identification of the gains to marriage. We estimate the model with recent ACS data on California and show that preferences for similar partners are much less relevant for homosexuals than for heterosexuals with respect to age, education and race. As regards labor market outcomes such as hourly wages and working hours, our results highlight that the process of specialization within the household mainly applies to heterosexual couples. Finally, we discuss a number of interesting estimated interactions, like the one between education and wage, and the one between education and Hispanic origins.

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  • Edoardo Ciscato & Alfred Galichon & Marion Gousse, 2014. "Like Attract Like? A Structural Comparison of Homogamy Across Same-Sex and Different-Sex Households," Sciences Po publications info:hdl:2441/10gq8jbaid8, Sciences Po.
  • Handle: RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/10gq8jbaid85sben727o7nd22a
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Pierre-André Chiappori & Alfred Galichon & Bernard Salanié, 2019. "On Human Capital and Team Stability," Journal of Human Capital, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(2), pages 236-259.
    3. Simon Weber, 2017. "Family, marriage markets and inequality : a matching approach [Famille, marché du mariage et inégalités : l'approche par les modèles d'appariement]," SciencePo Working papers Main tel-03436364, HAL.
    4. Pierre-André Chiappori & Edoardo Ciscato & Carla Guerriero, 2020. "Analyzing Matching Patterns in Marriage: Theory and Application to Italian Data," Working Papers 2020-080, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
    5. Kenza Elass, 2022. "The multiple dimensions of selection into employment," AMSE Working Papers 2219, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    6. Tim Obermeier, 2023. "Individual Welfare Analysis: A tale of consumption, time use and preference heterogeneity," POID Working Papers 082, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    7. Pierre-Andr'e Chiappori & Alfred Galichon & Bernard Salani'e, 2021. "On Human Capital and Team Stability," Papers 2102.06487, arXiv.org.
    8. Kenza Elass, 2022. "The multiple dimensions of selection into employment," French Stata Users' Group Meetings 2022 06, Stata Users Group.
    9. Kenza Elass, 2022. "The multiple dimensions of selection into employment," Working Papers hal-03788508, HAL.
    10. Douglas W. Allen & Shih En Lu, 2017. "Matching, marriage, and children: differences across sexual orientations," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 527-547, June.
    11. Redpath, Connor, 2022. "Spousal Visa Policy and Mixed-Citizenship Couples: Evidence from the End of the Defense Of Marriage Act," SocArXiv mzuwe, Center for Open Science.
    12. Barbara Downs & Lucia Foster & Rachel Nesbit & Danielle H. Sandler, 2023. "Same-Sex Couples and the Child Earnings Penalty," Working Papers 23-25, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    13. Alfred Galichon & Bernard Salani'e, 2021. "Cupid's Invisible Hand: Social Surplus and Identification in Matching Models," Papers 2106.02371, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2023.
    14. Obermeier, Tim, 2022. "Individual Welfare Analysis: What's the Role of Intra-Family Preference Heterogeneity?," VfS Annual Conference 2022 (Basel): Big Data in Economics 264101, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    15. Simon Weber, 2017. "Family, marriage markets and inequality : a matching approach [Famille, marché du mariage et inégalités : l'approche par les modèles d'appariement]," SciencePo Working papers tel-03436364, HAL.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sorting; Matching; Marriage Market; Homogamy; Same-Sex Households; Roommate Problems;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination

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