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The Wealth of Parents: Trends Over Time in Assortative Mating Based on Parental Wealth

Author

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  • Sander Wagner

    (CREST/ENSAE)

  • Diederik Boertien

    (Center for Demographic Studies)

  • Mette Gørtz

    (University of Copenhagen and CEBI)

Abstract

This article describes trends in parental wealth homogamy among union cohorts formed between 1987 and 2013 in Denmark. Using high-quality register data on the wealth of parents during the year of partnering, we show that the correlation between partners’ levels of parental wealth is considerably lower compared with estimates from research on other countries. Nonetheless, parental wealth homogamy is high at the very top of the parental wealth distribution, and individuals from wealthy families are relatively unlikely to partner with individuals from families with low wealth. Parental wealth correlations among partners are higher when only parental assets rather than net wealth are examined, implying that the former might be a better measure for studying many social stratification processes. Most specifications indicate that homogamy increased in the 2000s relative to the 1990s, but trends can vary depending on methodological choices. The increasing levels of parental wealth homogamy raise concerns that over time, partnering behavior has become more consequential for wealth inequality between couples.

Suggested Citation

  • Sander Wagner & Diederik Boertien & Mette Gørtz, 2020. "The Wealth of Parents: Trends Over Time in Assortative Mating Based on Parental Wealth," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 57(5), pages 1809-1831, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:demogr:v:57:y:2020:i:5:d:10.1007_s13524-020-00906-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s13524-020-00906-3
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    Cited by:

    1. Häner-Müller, Melanie & Salvi, Michele & Schaltegger, Christoph A., 2024. "Marry into new or old money? The distributional impact of marital decisions from an intergenerational perspective," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 224(C), pages 672-687.
    2. Nicolas Frémeaux & Marion Leturcq, 2022. "Wealth Accumulation and the Gender Wealth Gap Across Couples’ Legal Statuses and Matrimonial Property Regimes in France," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 38(4), pages 643-679, October.
    3. Andreas Fagereng & Luigi Guiso & Luigi Pistaferri, 2022. "Assortative Mating and Wealth Inequality," NBER Working Papers 29903, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Eyles, Andrew & Blanden, Jo & Machin, Stephen, 2021. "Trends in intergenerational home ownership and wealth transmission," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 114426, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    5. Ricky Kanabar, 2024. "Assortative mating and wealth inequality in Great Britain: evidence from the baby boomer and Gen X cohorts," CEPEO Working Paper Series 24-07, UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, revised Oct 2024.
    6. Ariel J. Binder & Caroline Walker & Jonathan Eggleston & Marta Murray-Close, 2022. "Race and Mobility in U.S. Marriage Markets: Quantifying the Role of Segregation," Working Papers 22-59, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    7. Arabela ICHIM & Mihaela NECULITA & Carmen GHELASE & Daniela Ancuta SARPE, 2023. "The Effect of Assortative Mating on Wealth Inequality, why do the Rich Choose the Rich?," Economics and Applied Informatics, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 2, pages 134-137.
    8. Gangl, Markus, 2024. "Economic inequality and the cross-cutting of social circles: Evidence for a Great Gatsby curve in European marriage and partnership markets," OSF Preprints pfv6w, Center for Open Science.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Wealth; Inequality; Assortative mating; Intergenerational processes; Partnering;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General

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