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Field-of-Study Homogamy

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  • Bičáková, Alena
  • Jurajda, Štěpán

Abstract

This paper reports evidence on the strong tendency of the college educated to match with partners who graduated in the same field of study - a dimension of assortative matching that has been overlooked thus far. We employ Labor Force Survey data covering most EU countries to measure the extent of field-of-study homogamy in prevailing married and cohabiting couples within several years of college graduation. We find that field-of-study homogamy increases almost immediately after graduation to reach very high levels, especially for spouses working in the same industry, and that it varies dramatically across countries. Graduates in Social Sciences display a particularly strong tendency towards homogamy and also have the highest matching theory-implied match gains from homogamous matches.

Suggested Citation

  • Bičáková, Alena & Jurajda, Štěpán, 2017. "Field-of-Study Homogamy," GLO Discussion Paper Series 7, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:7
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    Cited by:

    1. Simon Clark, 2020. ""You're Just My Type!" Matching and Payoffs When Like Attracts Like," Edinburgh School of Economics Discussion Paper Series 295, Edinburgh School of Economics, University of Edinburgh.
    2. Pestel, Nico, 2016. "Searching on the Campus? Marriage Market Effects of the Student Gender Composition by Field of Study," VfS Annual Conference 2016 (Augsburg): Demographic Change 145510, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    3. Geghetsik Afunts & Stepan Jurajda, 2022. "Who Divorces Whom: Unilateral Divorce Legislation and the Educational Structure of Marriage," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp740, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.
    4. Pestel, Nico, 2017. "Searching on Campus? Marriage Market Effects of the Student Gender Composition," IZA Discussion Papers 11175, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Nico Pestel, 2021. "Searching on campus? The marriage market effects of changing student sex ratios," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1175-1207, December.
    6. Aydede Yigit, 2020. "Assortative preferences in choice of major," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-25, March.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Field-of-Study Homogamy; College Graduates; Marriage and Cohabitation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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