A new working paper conducted by the National Bureau of
Economic Research argues that Americans are more likely to marry someone who is
economically similar as they are. This tendency is called, “positive
assortative mating.” According to census data from 1960 to 2005, it also appears
that the odds of people who have the same education level increased by 12
points.
Interestingly, the authors used the Gini coefficient to
compare to their marriage model. From 1960 to 2005, “the Gini coefficient in
the United States increased to 0.43 from 0.34, representing the dropping share
of income controlled by poor families.” Ultimately, if people married randomly,
without considering education or economic levels of each other, the Gini
coefficient would have been “significantly lower.” It appears that who we marry
does actually impact society at large.
2 comments:
Well, if you ever wanted a real-life application of the Gini coefficient... here it is! It seems like a simple observation, but of course education level factors into your household income. I think the real gem to be drawn from this article is that over time, the Gini coefficient between husband and wife has decreased as women have been able to play a more significant role in the workplace. That might have been a better message to emphasize rather than ruining my hopes of marrying a prince!
This is a great example! It is really interesting to see the Gini coefficient used in this way, and to describe such a relatable topic. In a class I took last semester about family relationships, we looked at statistics that showed people often marry their equal social class. We hadn't applied education to the study, but it makes since to see education as a factor. Seeing women more involved in the workplace is definitely a reason to expect such rate to decrease, but I wouldn't have thought the educational aspect would be applied to the Gini coefficient in such a way. It'll be interesting to see how future rates fluctuate with women continuing to strive for strong educational backgrounds and career focused lives.
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