Research Details

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.

Type

Working Paper

Author(s)

Frederik Almar, Benjamin Friedrich, Ana Reynoso, Bastian Schulz, Rune Vejlin

Date Published

2024

Citations

Almar, Frederik, Benjamin Friedrich, Ana Reynoso, Bastian Schulz, and Rune Vejlin. 2024. Educational Ambition, Marital Sorting, and Inequality.