Same-Occupation Spouses: Preferences and Search Costs

Hani Mansour () and Terra McKinnish

No 8370, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Married individuals match with spouses who share their occupation more frequently than predicted by chance, suggesting either a preference for same-occupation matches or lower search costs within occupation. To distinguish between these explanations, we use a differences-in-differences strategy that compares the difference in wages between same-occupation husbands and different-occupation husbands across occupations with different percent male workers. Under the preferences mechanism, the difference should be decreasing in percent male. Under the search cost mechanism, the difference should be increasing in percent male. Our results are consistent with the search cost explanation, especially in occupations with greater degree of workplace communication.

Keywords: search frictions; sex ratio; occupation; marital sorting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33 pages
Date: 2014-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-lma
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

Published - published in: Journal of Population Economics, 2018, 31 (4), 1005-1033

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