ERIC Number: ED672604
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Apr
Pages: N/A
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Educational Ambition, Marital Sorting, and Inequality. Working Paper 33683
Frederik Almar; Benjamin Friedrich; Ana Reynoso; Bastian Schulz; Rune M. Vejlin
National Bureau of Economic Research
This paper revisits the link between education-based marriage market sorting and income inequality. Leveraging Danish administrative data, we develop a novel categorization of "ambition types" that is based on starting wages and wage growth trajectories associated with detailed educational programs. We find a substantial increase in assortative matching by educational ambition over time, and the marriage market explains more than 40% of increasing inequality since 1980. In contrast, sorting trends are flat with the commonly-used educational level categorization. We conclude that the mapping from education to types matters crucially for conclusions about how education-based marriage market sorting contributes to rising income inequality. [Funding provided by Aarhus University Research Foundation and the Dale T. Mortensen Centre at the Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.]
National Bureau of Economic Research. 1050 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138-5398. Tel: 617-588-0343; Web site: http://www.nber.org
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Identifiers - Location: Denmark
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A