Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/142397 
Year of Publication: 
2016
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 9958
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
In 30% of young American couples the wife is more educated than the husband. Those women are characterized by a substantially higher employment (all else equal), which in turn amplifies income inequality across couples. Using NLSY79, we formulate and structurally estimate a dynamic life-cycle model of endogenous marriage and labor supply decisions in a collective framework. We establish that the education gap at the time of marriage, produces dynamic effects due to human capital accumulation and implied wage growth. Inequality between couples is largely driven by the persistence in labor supply choices and only slightly affected by assortative matching.
Subjects: 
educational assortative mating
female labor supply
human capital
inequality
JEL: 
J22
J12
J24
J31
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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