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College as a Marriage Market

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  • Lars Kirkebøen
  • Edwin Leuven
  • Magne Mogstad

Abstract

What explains the strong educational homogamy and assortativity that we observe among the college educated? We use Norwegian data to address identification and measurement challenges and find that colleges are local marriage markets that matter greatly for whom one marries, not because of the pre-determined traits of the admitted students but as a direct result of attending a particular institution at a given time. The effects of enrollment on homogamy that we uncover are sufficiently large to explain the majority of the strong educational sorting among the college educated in our data. We also examine the mechanisms behind these effects and explore implications for individual and family earnings.

Suggested Citation

  • Lars Kirkebøen & Edwin Leuven & Magne Mogstad, 2021. "College as a Marriage Market," NBER Working Papers 28688, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:28688
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Artmann, Elisabeth & Ketel, Nadine & Oosterbeek, Hessel & van der Klaauw, Bas, 2021. "Field of study and partner choice," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    2. Nybom, Martin & Plug, Erik & van der Klaauw, Bas & Ziegler, Lennart, 2022. "Skills, Parental Sorting, and Child Inequality," IZA Discussion Papers 15824, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Arenas, Andreu & Calsamiglia, Caterina, 2022. "Gender Differences in High-Stakes Performance and College Admission Policies," IZA Discussion Papers 15550, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Benjamin Goldman & Jamie Gracie & Sonya R. Porter, 2024. "Who Marries Whom? The Role of Segregation by Race and Class," Working Papers 24-30, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    5. Quentin Lippmann & Khushboo Surana, 2022. "The Hierarchy of Partner Preferences," Discussion Papers 22/08, Department of Economics, University of York.
    6. Victor Lavy & Yoav Goldstein, 2022. "Gifted Children Programs’ Short and Long-Term Impact: Higher Education, Earnings, and the Knowledge Economy," NBER Working Papers 29779, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Nibbering, Didier & Oosterveen, Matthijs & Silva, Pedro Luís, 2022. "Clustered Local Average Treatment Effects: Fields of Study and Academic Student Progress," IZA Discussion Papers 15159, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I24 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Education and Inequality
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

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