Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/176876 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
ifo Working Paper No. 256
Publisher: 
ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, Munich
Abstract: 
We investigate the impact of a compulsory schooling reform on marriage market matching using a regression discontinuity design. Our results imply that the formally gender-neutral educational reform has asymmetric impacts for men and women, owing to the pervasive marital age gap and the birthdate discontinuity. We show that treated women decrease the marital age gap to avoid marrying less qualified men. Treated men in contrast are able to marry similarly educated women without substantially changing the age gap. Our estimates indicate that the disruptions for cohorts around the introduction of the reform are economically significant.
Subjects: 
Marital sorting
spousal age gap
compulsory schooling.
JEL: 
I28
J12
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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