Trends in Assortative Mating and Offspring Outcomes
Link to article:
Authors:
Bratsberg, Bernt, Simen Markussen, Oddbjørn Raaum, Knut Røed, Ole J. Røgeberg
Year:
2018
Reference:
Andre skrifter
IZA DP No. 11753
Summary
Fertility patterns and assortative mating help shape the level and the distribution of offspring outcomes. Increased assortative mating among the less educated has been reported across Western nations, suggesting that inequality in parental resources may be on the rise. In times of rising attainment, we argue that it is difficult to interpret trends in educational assortative mating as they can arise from change in sorting into education as much as from change in sorting into partnerships. Using rank measures of parental resources that have constant marginal distributions, we uncover evidence of declining assortative mating over the last 30 years in Norway. We also find an increasingly positive selection into parenthood. Estimating the contribution of parental resources to offspring outcomes, we show that recent trends in mating have caused a small rise in average offspring education and earnings as well as a decline in offspring inequality.
JEL:
J12 J24 J62 D63
Keywords:
assortative mating homogamy intergenerational mobility inequality
Project:
Oppdragsgiver: Norges ForskningsrådOppdragsgivers prosjektnr.: 236992
Frisch prosjekt: 1178 - Egalitarianism under pressure? New perspectives on inequality and social cohesion
