Changes in Assortative Matching and Inequality in Income: Evidence for the UK

Pierre-Andre Chiappori, Monica Costa Dias, Sam Crossman and Costas Meghir ()
Additional contact information
Pierre-Andre Chiappori: Dept. of Economics, Columbia University
Sam Crossman: Institute for Fiscal Studies
Costas Meghir: Cowles Foundation, Yale University, https://economics.yale.edu/people/faculty/costas-meghir

No 2225, Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers from Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University

Abstract: The extent to which like-with like marry is important for inequality as well as for the outcomes of children that result from the union. In this paper we present evidence on changes in assortative mating and its implications for household inequality in the UK. Our approach contrasts with others in the literature in that it is consistent with an underlying model of the marriage market. We argue that a key advantage of this approach is that it creates a direct connection between changes in assortativeness in marriage and changes in the value of marriage for the various possible matches by education group. Our empirical results do not show a clear direction in the change in assortativeness in the UK, between the birth cohorts of 1945-54 and 1965-74. We find that changes in assortativeness pushed income inequality up slightly, but that the strong changes in education attainment across the two cohorts contributed to scale down inequality.

Keywords: Marital sorting; Income inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 J12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 29 pages
Date: 2020-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur and nep-ltv
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Changes in Assortative Matching and Inequality in Income: Evidence for the UK (2020)
Working Paper: Changes in Assortative Matching and Inequality in Income: Evidence for the UK (2020)
Working Paper: Changes in Assortative Matching and Inequality in Income: Evidence for the UK (2020)
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