Marital Sorting and Inequality: How Educational Categorization Matters

Frederik Almar (), Benjamin Friedrich (), Ana Reynoso (), Bastian Schulz and Rune Vejlin
Additional contact information
Frederik Almar: Aarhus University
Benjamin Friedrich: Northwestern University
Ana Reynoso: University of Michigan

No 15912, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper revisits the link between education-based marriage market sorting and income inequality. Leveraging Danish administrative data, we develop a novel categorization of marriage market types based on the starting wages and wage growth trajectories associated with educational programs: ambition types. We find a substantial increase in sorting by educational ambition over time, which explains more than 40% of increasing inequality since 1980. In contrast, sorting trends are flat with the commonly used level of education. Hence, the mapping between education and marriage-market types matters crucially for conclusions about the role of marital sorting in rising income inequality.

Keywords: marital sorting; inequality; education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 D31 I24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 25 pages
Date: 2023-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-eur, nep-lab and nep-ltv
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Working Paper: Marital Sorting and Inequality: How Educational Categorization Matters (2023)
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