A marriage-market perspective on risk-taking and career choices

Hanzhe Zhang () and Ben Zou

European Economic Review, 2023, vol. 152, issue C

Abstract: We document that women are less likely than men to be in “risky” occupations, i.e., those that exhibit large within-occupation wage dispersion. We first demonstrate that a new theoretical channel—the competitive structure of the marriage market—may incentivize both men and women to choose riskier careers with lower wage returns. We then show that a unifying factor—women’s relative inability to reap the benefits of a risky career due to their shorter reproductive span and consequent career-family trade-off—can help rationalize a set of gender differences in labor-market and marriage-market outcomes. Using data from the United States, we provide empirical evidence that supports the model predictions.

Keywords: Gender; Marriage market; Risk-taking; Occupational choices; Differential fecundity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C78 J12 J16 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:152:y:2023:i:c:s0014292123000089

DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2023.104379

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