The Effects of Assortative Mating on Income Inequality: A Decompositional Analysis
Date
2006-11
Authors
Worner, Shane Mathew
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Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University
Abstract
Using the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ Survey of Income and Household Costs, this
paper explores the effect of changing assortative mating patterns on income inequality.
Evidence from theoretical and mathematically calibrated models suggest that assortative
mating has distributional implications for measurable traits, which include income. Using
a semi-parametric conditional weighted kernel density estimation framework we analyse
the effect of assortative mating on the distribution of income in Australia. In controlling
for labour force participation, family characteristics, education and other demographic
variables, we find some evidence to suggest that assortative mating has had an influence
on the increase in income inequality in the 17 years to 2003. The results are robust to
several changes in specification.
Description
Keywords
sorting, inequality, assortative mating/matching
Citation
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Type
Working/Technical Paper
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Open Access
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Restricted until
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