Optimizing the Marriage Market Through the Reallocation of Partners: An Application of the Linear Assignment Model

Abstract

Abstract:Research shows that success of marriages and other intimate partnerships depend on objective attributes such as differences of age, cultural background or educational levels between partners. This article proposes a mathematical approach of marriage which intends to optimally allocate spouses in order to reduce the likelihood of divorce within the set of structural constraints defining a marriage market. Based on a representative and longitudinal sample of 1074 cohabitating and married couples living in Switzerland, we estimate various objective functions corresponding to age, education, ethnicity and previous divorce experience concerning every possible combination of men and women. Our results show that the current state of marriages or partnerships is well below the social optimum. About 7 individuals over 10 (68%) are reallocated to a couple with a higher chance of survival than the actual couple that they belong to. This reallocation leads the initial non optimal situations to the final optimal situations with a reduction of the objective function by 21% of its initial value.

Sustainable marriages? Divorce patterns of binational couples in Europe versus North America

“…This is a key finding that contradicts previous studies (e.g. Cao et al, 2008;Kalmijn et al, 2005;Van Huis and Steenhof, 2003). The rest of the variables included in model 1 that describe the respondents' age at marriage, their gender, educational level, having children, previous relationships, premarital children and marital satisfaction are background variables and had the expected effect on the respondents' likelihood of divorce.…”

“…Van Huis and Steenhof (2003) obtained similar results but they specify that the risk of divorce in the Netherlands is higher for binational couples of western and non-western origin than for Dutch couples. Cao et al (2008) also report similar findings in Switzerland. These authors explore the effect of heterogeneity in some variables, such as citizenship and the origin of the partners, on marital instability and find a negative correlation between nationality heterogamy (Swiss married to non-western) and divorce.…”

“…Mixed marriages have been portrayed as microcosms of increasingly diverse societies. If the positive correlation between intermarriage among binational couples and divorce reported by Cao et al (2008), Kalmijn et al (2005) and Van Huis and Steenhof (2003) is confirmed in future studies, the following conclusions could be made from this important finding: while the occurrence of intermarriage may indicate the lessening of the social distance between ethnic minorities and the majority (Gordon, 1964) and the softening of negative attitudes against the out-group in future generations (Kalmijn, 1998), a 'failure' in the cohabitance of binational couples may also be a signal of a failure in the structural integration among newcomers and the long-term residents of a geographical area.…”

“…The scarce literature on this topic (e.g. Cao et al., 2008; Kalmijn et al., 2005; Van Huis and Steenhof, 2003) concludes that, due to cultural differences, binational couples are more likely to divorce than couples formed by partners coming from the same country of origin (i.e. conational couples).…”

Toward building a conceptual framework on intermarriage

“…What are, if any, the additional internal and external challenges faced by these couples? According to the few studies on binational couples' marital experiences, relationships in which partners were born in different countries are more likely to dissolve than their counterparts (Cao et al., 2008; Kalmijn et al., 2005; Van Huis and Steenhof, 2003). These scholars explain this finding by appealing to ethno-cultural differences; however, they do not explore what aspects of partners' cultural backgrounds matter for predicting their probability of remaining married or separating.…”