Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/196708 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 12210
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
We study marital sorting on academic qualifications and latent ability in an equilibrium marriage market model using the 1972 UK Raising of the School-Leaving Age (RoSLA) legislation as a natural experiment that induced a sudden, large shift in the distribution of academic qualifications in affected cohorts, but plausibly had no impact on the distribution of ability. We show that a Choo and Siow (2006) model with sorting on cohort, qualifications, and latent ability is identified and estimable using the RoSLA-induced population shifts. We find that the RoSLA isolated low ability individuals in the marriage market, and affected marital outcomes of individuals whose qualification attainment were unaffected. We also decompose the difference in marriage probabilities between unqualified individuals and those with basic qualifications into causal effects stemming from ability and qualification differences. Differences in marriage probabilities are almost entirely driven by ability.
Subjects: 
assortative mating
qualifications
marriage
latent ability
JEL: 
D10
D13
I26
J12
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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