Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/272539 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 15912
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper revisits the link between education-based marriage market sorting and income inequality. Leveraging Danish administrative data, we develop a novel categorization of marriage market types based on the starting wages and wage growth trajectories associated with educational programs: ambition types. We find a substantial increase in sorting by educational ambition over time, which explains more than 40% of increasing inequality since 1980. In contrast, sorting trends are flat with the commonly used level of education. Hence, the mapping between education and marriage-market types matters crucially for conclusions about the role of marital sorting in rising income inequality.
Subjects: 
marital sorting
inequality
education
JEL: 
D13
D31
I24
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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