Assortive mating and the industrial revolution: England, 1754-2021

Neil Cummins and Gregory Clark

Economic History Working Papers from London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History

Abstract: Using a new database of 1.7 million marriage records for England 1837-2021 we estimate assortment by occupational status in marriage, and the intergenerational correlation of occupational status. We find the underlying correlations of status groom-bride, and father-son, are remarkably high: 0.8 and 0.9 respectively. These correlations are unchanged 1837-2021. There is evidence this strong matching extends back to at least 1754. Even before formal education and occupations for women, grooms and brides matched tightly on educational and occupational abilities. We show further that women contributed as much as men to important child outcomes. This implies strong marital sorting substantially increased the variance of social abilities in England. Pre-industrial marital systems typically involved much less marital sorting. Thus the development of assortative marriage may play a role in the location and timing of the Industrial Revolution, through its effect on the supply of those with upper-tail abilities.

JEL-codes: B1 N0 O52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2022-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem, nep-gro and nep-his
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http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/115008/ Open access version. (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: Assortative Mating and the Industrial Revolution: England, 1754-2021 (2022)
Working Paper: Assortative mating and the Industrial Revolution: England, 1754-2021 (2022)
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