Educational Ambition, Marital Sorting, and Inequality

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

*Corresponding author af dette arbejde

Publikation: Bidrag til tidsskrift/Konferencebidrag i tidsskrift /Bidrag til avisTidsskriftartikelForskningpeer review

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 “ambition types” that is based on the labor market returns of detailed educational programs. In contrast to commonly-used education-based categorizations, we find a substantial increase in positive assortative matching by educational ambition over time. Moreover, changes in household composition by ambition explain more than 35% of increasing inequality since 1980. 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.
OriginalsprogEngelsk
TidsskriftJournal of Labor Economics
ISSN0734-306X
StatusAccepteret/In press - 1 okt. 2025

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