Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/180590 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 11572
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We investigate the role of marital patterns in explaining rising income inequality using a structural marriage matching model with unobserved heterogeneity. This allows us to consider both the extensive and intensive margins of the marriage market, i.e. who remains single and who marries whom. Using US data from 1962 to 2017, we show that marital patterns can explain about 1/3 of the rise in income inequality. The intensive margin (educational assortative mating) has only played a minor role (5%), the extensive margin being the main driver of the contribution of marital patterns (95%).
Subjects: 
marriage market
matching
singles
assortative mating
JEL: 
C78
D1
D3
I24
J12
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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