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Fatter Attraction: Anthropometric and Socioeconomic Matching on the Marriage Market

Author

Listed:
  • Pierre-André Chiappori

    (Columbia University)

  • Sonia Oreffice

    (Universitat d'Alacant and IZA)

  • Climent Quintana-Domeque

    (Universitat d'Alacant)

Abstract

We construct a matching model on the marriage market along more than one characteristic, where individuals have preferences over physical attractiveness and socioeconomic characteristics that can be summarized by a one-dimensional index combining these various attributes. We show that under a (testable) separability assumption, the indices are ordinally identified. We estimate the model using data from the PSID. Our separability tests do not reject. We find that among men, a 10% increase in BMI can be compensated by a higher wage of around 3%. Similarly, for women, an additional year of education may compensate up to three BMI units.

Suggested Citation

  • Pierre-André Chiappori & Sonia Oreffice & Climent Quintana-Domeque, 2010. "Fatter Attraction: Anthropometric and Socioeconomic Matching on the Marriage Market," Working Papers 2011-012, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.
  • Handle: RePEc:hka:wpaper:2011-012
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    BMI; marriage market; wages; education;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

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

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