Attention Economy


Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Assortative Mating - Interesting Items

The professions most likely to be paired up in marriage, and more!
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/06/16/what-does-your-job-say-about-whom-youll-marry/ 

Rich Like Me: How Assortative Mating Is Driving Income Inequality
Related:
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/02/how-i-when-harry-met-sally-i-explains-inequality/283517/

A NYTIMES piece notes:
“Assortative mating is the idea that people marry people like themselves, with similar education and earnings potential and the values and lifestyle that come with them. It was common in the early 20th century, dipped in the middle of the century and has sharply risen in recent years — a pattern that roughly mirrors income inequality in the United States, according to research by Robert Mare, a sociologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. People are now more likely to marry people with similar educational attainment — even after controlling for differences between men and women, like the fact that women were once less likely to attend college.”

Interesting graphic from Bloomberg – This Chart Shows Who Marries CEOs, Doctors, Chefs and Janitors
http://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2016-who-marries-whom/

Tyler Cowen on Assortative Mating and Rising Inequality

Assortative Mating and the US Marriage Market
The Economist notes –
“While fewer women are marching to the altar—the proportion of those married before the age of 30 has fallen from 50% in 1960 to around 20% today—the ones that do increasingly look like Leah. Highly educated, financially independent women were once among the least likely to get hitched. Now they are getting married at a faster rate than their lesser-educated peers, and often to highly educated men. These unions are not only the most common, but also the most harmonious. New data show that America’s divorce rate has continued its plunge from its 1981 peak—from 5.3 to 3.2 divorces per 1,000 people in 2014—but this decline is largely concentrated among the better-educated. Among college graduates who married in the early 2000s, only around 11% divorced within seven years, according to data from Justin Wolfers of the University of Michigan.”

Interesting results from a Spanish study:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/12/18/in-love-opposites-dont-attract-and-thats-a-big-problem-for-inequality/
People selecting spouses primary from their their own 'class' (determined by income/education level) has significant effect on future generations. The above post notes:
“The tendency of people to marry someone similar, which economists call "assortative mating," is one of the most important factors in determining how wealth is distributed throughout a society and whether children are born with genuinely equal opportunities to succeed.”

Related:

Marriage Stability - Impact of Education and Income Levels
Educated Americans Paved the Way for Divorce—Then Embraced Marriage
Related: