ERIC Number: ED674487
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025-May
Pages: 62
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
College as a Marriage Market. Discussion Paper #2025.04
Lars Kirkebøen; Edwin Leuven; Magne Mogstad; Jack Mountjoy
Blueprint Labs
College graduates tend to marry each other. We use detailed Norwegian data to show that strong assortativity further arises by institution and field of study, especially among high earners from elite programs. Admission discontinuities reveal that enrollment itself, rather than selection, primarily drives matching by institution and field among the college-educated, and that these matches can be economically consequential. Elite professional programs, in particular, propel marginally admitted women into elite household formation: they earn substantially more themselves and match with higher-earning elite partners, becoming much more likely to join the top percentiles of household earnings while also reducing fertility. Marginal elite admission for men yields no change in partner earnings or fertility. College matchmaking effects are concentrated among students who attend the same institution at the same time, and are larger when opposite-sex peers are more abundant, indicating search costs in the marriage market.
Descriptors: College Graduates, College Students, Marital Status, Dating (Social), Foreign Countries, College Enrollment, Income, Family Income, Majors (Students), Marriage, Role of Education, College Role
Blueprint Labs. 30 Wadsworth Street, Cambridge, MA 02142. e-mail: contact@mitblueprintlabs.org; Web site: https://blueprintlabs.mit.edu/
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Authoring Institution: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Blueprint Labs; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
Identifiers - Location: Norway
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A