Online Dating Caused a Rise in US Income Inequality, Research Paper Shows
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-14/online-dating-caused-a-rise-in-us-income-inequality-research-paper-shows
Online dating may be partially to blame for an increase in income inequality in the US in recent decades, according to a research paper.
Since the emergence of dating apps that allow people to look for a partner based on criteria including education, Americans have increasingly been marrying someone more like themselves. That accounts for about half of the rise in income inequality among households between 1980 and 2020, researchers from the Federal Reserve Banks of Dallas and St. Louis and Haverford College found.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-14/online-dating-caused-a-rise-in-us-income-inequality-research-paper-shows
Online dating may be partially to blame for an increase in income inequality in the US in recent decades, according to a research paper.
Since the emergence of dating apps that allow people to look for a partner based on criteria including education, Americans have increasingly been marrying someone more like themselves. That accounts for about half of the rise in income inequality among households between 1980 and 2020, researchers from the Federal Reserve Banks of Dallas and St. Louis and Haverford College found.
From Dating to Marriage: Has Online Dating Made a Difference?
https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2024/sep/dating-marriage-has-online-dating-made-difference
Marriage Market Sorting in the U.S.
https://research.stlouisfed.org/wp/more/2023-023
Working Paper 2023-023B by Anton Cheremukhin, Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria, and Antonella Tutino
We examine shifts in the U.S. marriage market, assessing how online dating, demographic changes, and evolving societal norms influence mate choice and broader sorting trends. Using a targeted search model, we analyze mate selection based on factors such as education, age, race, income, and skill. Intriguingly, despite the rise of online dating, preferences, mate choice, and overall sorting patterns showed negligible change from 2008 to 2021. However, a longer historical view from 1960 to 2020 reveals a trend toward preferences for similarity, particularly concerning income, education, and skills. Our findings refute two out of three potential explanations -- reduced search costs and growing spatial segregation -- as potential causes of these long-term shifts. In particular, we conclude that people's capacity to process and evaluate information hasn't improved despite technological advancements. Among the remaining demographic factors, we identify enhanced workforce participation and college attainment among women as the primary drivers of the U.S. marriage market transformation. Furthermore, we find that the corresponding changes in mate preferences and increased assortativeness by skill and education over this timeframe account for about half of the increased income inequality among households.
https://www.stlouisfed.org/on-the-economy/2024/sep/dating-marriage-has-online-dating-made-difference
https://research.stlouisfed.org/wp/more/2023-023
Working Paper 2023-023B by Anton Cheremukhin, Paulina Restrepo-Echavarria, and Antonella Tutino
We examine shifts in the U.S. marriage market, assessing how online dating, demographic changes, and evolving societal norms influence mate choice and broader sorting trends. Using a targeted search model, we analyze mate selection based on factors such as education, age, race, income, and skill. Intriguingly, despite the rise of online dating, preferences, mate choice, and overall sorting patterns showed negligible change from 2008 to 2021. However, a longer historical view from 1960 to 2020 reveals a trend toward preferences for similarity, particularly concerning income, education, and skills. Our findings refute two out of three potential explanations -- reduced search costs and growing spatial segregation -- as potential causes of these long-term shifts. In particular, we conclude that people's capacity to process and evaluate information hasn't improved despite technological advancements. Among the remaining demographic factors, we identify enhanced workforce participation and college attainment among women as the primary drivers of the U.S. marriage market transformation. Furthermore, we find that the corresponding changes in mate preferences and increased assortativeness by skill and education over this timeframe account for about half of the increased income inequality among households.
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