scholarly journals Educational Assortative Mating and Household Income Inequality

2019 ◽  
Vol 127 (6) ◽  
pp. 2795-2835 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lasse Eika ◽  
Magne Mogstad ◽  
Basit Zafar
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Educational Assortative Mating

scholarly journals Assortative Mating, Income Inequality, and Place

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Avril Macfarlane
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Household Income ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Educational Assortative Mating ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
The Relationship

<p>There is a growing concern internationally about levels of income inequality, and the negative effect this has on the functioning of societies both in terms of productivity and social harmony. An unexpected contributor to inequality is assortative mating - the phenomenon of “like marrying like”. Educational attainment is highly correlated with income; when two highly educated people partner and form a household they are more likely to appear at the top of the household income distribution, while couples with only primary or incomplete secondary education appear at the bottom. Therefore the greater the propensity to mate assortatively the more unequal the distribution of household income becomes.   I ask two questions of the relationship between educational assortative mating and household income inequality. Firstly, how do countries (in Europe) differ in their degree of educational assortative mating? Secondly, what is the evidence that such differences are reflected in indicators of household income inequality?   My study differs from the prevailing approaches to this question by taking a geographical approach. Instead of comparing a single country over time and monitoring the correspondence between assortative mating and income inequality, I compare a wide range of countries, using a uniform instrument, at one point in time. In order to do so I draw on the unit records of 29 countries from the European Social Survey administered in 2012.   From these unit record data I have been able to identify two important patterns. Firstly, there is a clear presence of educational assortative mating in each country. However, the degree differs and it does so primarily as a reflection of the overall level of education in the country. Rising levels of education lower the returns for education, in turn making assortative mating comparatively less attractive. As a result, the level of assortative mating, compared to what would be expected under random conditions, is lower in highly educated nations. The lowered level of assortative mating in highly educated nations reduces the barriers to social mobility through marriage for those without university educations. Consequently, household income inequality is seen to be intrinsically related to assortative mating, although the outcomes can be mitigated by redistribution policies.</p>

scholarly journals Assortative Mating, Income Inequality, and Place

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Avril Macfarlane
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Household Income ◽  
European Social Survey ◽  
Highly Educated ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Educational Assortative Mating ◽  
Highly Correlated ◽  
The Relationship

<p>There is a growing concern internationally about levels of income inequality, and the negative effect this has on the functioning of societies both in terms of productivity and social harmony. An unexpected contributor to inequality is assortative mating - the phenomenon of “like marrying like”. Educational attainment is highly correlated with income; when two highly educated people partner and form a household they are more likely to appear at the top of the household income distribution, while couples with only primary or incomplete secondary education appear at the bottom. Therefore the greater the propensity to mate assortatively the more unequal the distribution of household income becomes.   I ask two questions of the relationship between educational assortative mating and household income inequality. Firstly, how do countries (in Europe) differ in their degree of educational assortative mating? Secondly, what is the evidence that such differences are reflected in indicators of household income inequality?   My study differs from the prevailing approaches to this question by taking a geographical approach. Instead of comparing a single country over time and monitoring the correspondence between assortative mating and income inequality, I compare a wide range of countries, using a uniform instrument, at one point in time. In order to do so I draw on the unit records of 29 countries from the European Social Survey administered in 2012.   From these unit record data I have been able to identify two important patterns. Firstly, there is a clear presence of educational assortative mating in each country. However, the degree differs and it does so primarily as a reflection of the overall level of education in the country. Rising levels of education lower the returns for education, in turn making assortative mating comparatively less attractive. As a result, the level of assortative mating, compared to what would be expected under random conditions, is lower in highly educated nations. The lowered level of assortative mating in highly educated nations reduces the barriers to social mobility through marriage for those without university educations. Consequently, household income inequality is seen to be intrinsically related to assortative mating, although the outcomes can be mitigated by redistribution policies.</p>

scholarly journals Marry Your Like: Assortative Mating and Income Inequality

2014 ◽  
Vol 104 (5) ◽  
pp. 348-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Greenwood ◽  
Nezih Guner ◽  
Georgi Kocharkov ◽  
Cezar Santos
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Household Income ◽  
The United States ◽  
Census Bureau ◽  
United States Census ◽  
United States Census Bureau ◽  
Positive Assortative Mating ◽  
High Level ◽  
Married Female

Has there been an increase in positive assortative mating? Does assortative mating contribute to household income inequality? Data from the United States Census Bureau suggests there has been a rise in assortative mating. Additionally, assortative mating affects household income inequality. In particular, if matching in 2005 between husbands and wives had been random, instead of the pattern observed in the data, then the Gini coefficient would have fallen from the observed 0.43 to 0.34, so that income inequality would be smaller. Thus, assortative mating is important for income inequality. The high level of married female labor-force participation in 2005 is important for this result.

scholarly journals Educational Assortative Mating and Income Inequality in Denmark

Demography ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (3) ◽  
pp. 867-887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Breen ◽  
Signe Hald Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Educational Assortative Mating

scholarly journals The role of partnering and assortative mating for income inequality: The case of Finland, 1991–2014

2021 ◽  
pp. 000169932110047
Author(s):  
Jani Erola ◽  
Elina Kilpi-Jakonen
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Assortative Mating ◽  
Household Income ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Theil Index ◽  
Substantial Part ◽  
Social Origin ◽  
Class Background ◽  
Parental Class

Previous studies covering various developed countries suggest that changes in assortative mating by education have contributed only a little to the changes in income inequality, opposite to the expectations of many. In this paper we consider two potential reasons for the zero effects: (a) that it is the selection into partnership rather than assortative mating according to specific characteristics that matters; and (b) that for assortative mating to matter, a broader spectrum of matching characteristics than just education should be considered, such as matching by employment and social origin. We study these assumptions using register data on household income inequalities, education, employment and parental class background in Finland 1991–2014. We analyze men and women separately and focus on individuals aged 35–40. We concentrate on between-group income inequality as measured by the Theil index. The results suggest that partnership is an important factor behind income inequality, and changes in selection into partnership can explain a substantial part of the changes in income inequality. Assortative mating does not matter as much, even if more sorting characteristics are taken into account. Social origin contributes very little to the income inequality of families in Finland

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