Working Paper: NBER ID: w28033
Authors: Claudia Olivetti; M. Daniele Paserman; Laura Salisbury; E. Anna Weber
Abstract: We present new findings about the relationship between marriage and socioeconomic background in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. Imputing socioeconomic status of family of origin from first names, we document a socioeconomic gradient for women in the probability of marriage and the socioeconomic status of husbands. This socioeconomic gradient becomes steeper over time. We investigate the degree to which it can be explained by occupational income divergence across geographic regions. Regional divergence explains about one half of the socioeconomic divergence in the probability of marriage, and almost all of the increase in marital sorting. Differences in urbanization rates and the share of foreign-born across states drive most of these differences, while other factors (the scholarization rate, the sex ratio and the share in manufacturing) play a smaller role.
Keywords: marriage; socioeconomic status; marital sorting; intergenerational mobility
JEL Codes: J12; J62; N31; N32; N91; N92
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| socioeconomic background (I24) | probability of marriage (J12) |
| socioeconomic background (I24) | socioeconomic status of husbands (J12) |
| socioeconomic status of husbands (J12) | marital sorting (J12) |
| regional divergence (R11) | socioeconomic divergence in marriage probability (J12) |
| regional divergence (R11) | increase in marital sorting (J12) |
| urbanization rates (R11) | regional divergence (R11) |
| share of foreign-born individuals (J11) | regional divergence (R11) |