Marriage Market Sorting in the US
Abstra ct:
We examine shifts in the U.S. marria ge market, assessing how online dating, demographic changes and evolving so cietal norms influence mate choice and broader sorting trends. Using a targ eted search model, we analyse mate selection based on factors such as educa tion , age, race, income and skill. Intriguingly, despite the rise of onlin e dating, preferences, mate choice and overall sorting patterns showed negl igible change from 2008 to 2021. However, a longer hostrorical view from 19 60 to 2020 reveals a trend towards preferences for similarity, particularly concerning income, education, and skills. Our findings refute two out of t hree potential explanations: reduced search costs and growing spatial segre gation - as potentioal causes of these long-term shifts. In particular, we conclude that people's capacity to process and evaluate information hasn't improved despite technological advancements. Among the remaining demographi c factors we identify enhanced workforce participation and college attainme nt among women as the primary drivers of the U.S. marriage market transform ation. Furthermore, we find that the corresponding changes in mate preferen ces and increased assortativeness by skill and education over this timefram e account for about half of the increased income inequality among household s.
DTSTAMP:20260426T045005Z DTSTART:20240408T143000Z DTEND:20240408T160000Z SEQUENCE:0 TRANSP:OPAQUE END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR