Educational Assortative Mating and Earnings Inequality in the United States

Educational Homogamy and Inter-Couple Income Inequality: Linking Demographic and Socio-Economic Consequences of Educational Expansion in Germany and Switzerland

“…By comparatively analyzing socio-demographic and socio-economic consequences of educational expansion, we demonstrate that both aspects are intricately linked and can potentially contribute to overall household material well-being and differences between households. However, the extent of impact is directly relational to (female) labor supply, which is in line with many of the previous studies on dual earner countries (Breen and Salazar 2011;Schwartz 2010;Cancian and Reed 1999;Breen and Salazar 2010;Breen and Andersen 2012;Dribe and Nystedt 2013). While labor supply is undoubtedly a crucial factor, alternative explanations may better explain why educational homogamy has not contributed to increased income inequality in either dual earner or male breadwinner countries.…”

“…Observed educational homogamy in Switzerland Women 1999Men 19991981and younger 1976-19801971-19751966-19701961-19651956-19601951-19551946-1950 Before 1946 1976-1980 1971-1975 1966-1970 1961-1965 1956-1960 1951-1955 1946-1950 Before 1946 Observed educational homogamy in Germany Women 1999Men 19991981and younger 1976-19801971-19751966-19701961-19651956-19601951-19551946-1950 Before 1946 1976-1980 1971-1975 1966-1970 1961-1965 1956-1960 1951-1955 1946-1950 Before 1946 Although we do not find support for a clear increase in educational homogamy as hypothesized, this initial finding is nonetheless consistent with previous studies on educational homogamy trends in recent decades (Blossfeld and Timm 2003;Breen and Salazar 2010;Breen and Salazar 2011;Breen and Andersen 2012). Upon further investigation of gender differences in partner patterns, we find that highly educated women are more likely to be single than men, which could counteract the hy...…”

“…From life course research, Elder (1994) coined the term "linked lives" to describe complex interrelationships Brought to you by | MIT Libraries Authenticated Download Date | 5/12/18 11:29 PM across work and family domains. If both individuals in the household do not intend to maximize their labor force utility, then there is no reason to expect educational homogamy to be associated with a high correlation in earnings between partners Breen and Salazar 2011;Schwartz 2013).…”

“…Most studies interested in sociodemographic explanations have attributed rising income inequality to changes in household structure, specifically with references to the increase of single households (e. g., Esping-Andersen 2007;Kollmeyer 2013;Western et al 2008). Only a few studies have empirically tested whether there is a relationship between educational homogamy and rising income inequality (for examples, see Breen and Salazar 2011;Schwartz 2010;Cancian and Reed 1999;Breen and Salazar 2010;Breen and Andersen 2012;Dribe and Nystedt 2013;Pestel 2015;Spitzenpfeil and Andress 2014). The vast majority of these studies, however, have only focused on countries that are typically characterized as dual-earner countries (i. e. Anglo-Saxon or Scandinavian countries, see Spitzenpfeil and Andress 2014).…”

Do Opposites Attract? Educational Assortative Mating and Dynamics of Wage Homogamy in Switzerland, 1992–2014

“…Some contributions find that homophily 2 (McPherson et al 2001) and assortative mating have increased over time (Hou and Myles 2008 for Canada and the US). Others register stable levels of assortative mating (Breen and Salazar 2011) or differences between countries (Kalmijn 1998). Ultee and Luijkx (1990), Smits et al (1998Smits et al ( , 2000 and Hu and Qian (2016) explain country differences with the level of societal openness and development of the countries.…”