Who Marries Whom? The Role of Identity, Cognitive and Noncognitive Skills in Marriage

Annalisa Marini

No 1904, Discussion Papers from University of Exeter, Department of Economics

Abstract: I estimate a structural model of marriage sorting on a representative sample of British individuals. The paper first investigates the importance of numerical skills in the selection of the partner and the role of identity for marriage matching on a British sample. The findings show that identity is among the most important attributes, together with education and physical characteristics, in marriage sorting. Cognitive skills are both direct and indirect determinants of marriage matching. Personality traits are also relevant in the choice of the partner: conscientiousness and openness to experience play, in addition to risk propensity, a direct and an indirect role, while agreeableness, extraversion and neuroticism matter only indirectly. Interesting findings, robust to both alternative specifications and a sensitivity analysis, and heterogeneous preferences between males and females emerge from the analysis.

Keywords: Marriage; Identity; Cognitive; Noncognitive Skills (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C01 D9 J12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-neu
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:exe:wpaper:1904

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