The Effect of Education on Marital Status and Partner Characteristics: Evidence from the UK

53 Pages Posted: 3 Jul 2010

See all articles by Dan Anderberg

Dan Anderberg

University of London, Royal Holloway College - Department of Economics; CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Yu Zhu

University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent Business School, Students

Date Written: June 30, 2010

Abstract

This paper uses a particular school exit rule previously in effect in England and Wales that allowed students born within the first five months of the academic year to leave school one term earlier than those born later in the year. Focusing on women, we show that those who were required to stay on an extra term more frequently hold some academic qualification. Using having been required to stay on as an exogenous factor affecting academic attainment, we find that holding a (low level) academic qualification has no effect on a women's probability of being married, but increases the probability of her husband holding some academic qualification and being economically active.

Keywords: education, marriage, assortative mating

JEL Classification: I10, J12

Suggested Citation

Anderberg, Dan and Zhu, Yu, The Effect of Education on Marital Status and Partner Characteristics: Evidence from the UK (June 30, 2010). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 3104, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1633360 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1633360

Dan Anderberg (Contact Author)

University of London, Royal Holloway College - Department of Economics ( email )

Royal Holloway College
Egham
Surrey, Surrey TW20 0EX
United Kingdom

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

Yu Zhu

University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent Business School, Students ( email )

Canterbury, Kent CT2 7PE
United Kingdom

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