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Marriage and the Intergenerational Mobility of Women: Evidence from Marriage Certificates 1850-1920

Author

Listed:
  • Eriksson, Katherine
  • Niemesh, Gregory T.
  • Rashid, Myera
  • Craig, Jacqueline

Abstract

We document that women’s economic mobility improved nearly a century before married women gained broad labor market opportunities. Using Massachusetts marriage registers linked to U.S. censuses (1850–1920), we create new father–child links for women to estimate intergenerational mobility and assortative mating, overcoming a key historical linkage barrier. Estimates from a structural marriage market model suggest assortative mating fell 61% from 1850–1870 to 1900–1920. Counterfactuals imply women’s mobility would have been far lower absent the decline in assortative mating. Had late cohorts faced early cohort sorting, the rank–rank slope between a woman’s father and husband would have been 2.5 times higher.

Suggested Citation

  • Eriksson, Katherine & Niemesh, Gregory T. & Rashid, Myera & Craig, Jacqueline, 2026. "Marriage and the Intergenerational Mobility of Women: Evidence from Marriage Certificates 1850-1920," CEPR Discussion Papers 21099, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:21099
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913

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