Educational Ambition, Marital Sorting, and Inequality

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 17814, 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 “ambition types” that is based on starting wages and wage growth trajectories associated with detailed educational programs. We find a substantial increase in assortative matching by educational ambition over time, and the marriage market explains more than 40% of increasing inequality since 1980. In contrast, sorting trends are flat with the commonly-used educational level categorization. We conclude that the mapping from education to types matters crucially for conclusions about how education-based marriage market sorting contributes to rising income inequality.

Keywords: education; marital sorting; inequality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 D31 I24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-eur, nep-lab and nep-ltv
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Forthcoming - this paper is a substantially revised version of IZA DP No. 15912, forthcoming in: Journal of Labor Economics

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Working Paper: Educational Ambition, Marital Sorting, and Inequality (2025)
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