Same-occupation spouses: preferences or search costs?
Same-occupation spouses: preferences or search costs?
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DOI：
10.1007/s00148-017-0670-z
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发表时间：
2018-10-01
影响因子：
6.1
通讯作者：
McKinnish, Terra
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Mansour, Hani;McKinnish, Terra
如果婚姻市场是覆盖特定地理区域的大型无摩擦搜索市场，那么已婚个体与共享职业的配偶匹配的频率就比偶然发生的频率要高。这表明，要么有一个偏好相同的职业匹配或搜索成本较低的职业。本文使用2008-2015年美国社区调查的数据，分析了新婚夫妇样本中的同职业匹配。我们的实证策略比较了不同职业的男性工人比例不同的职业中，相同职业的丈夫和不同职业的丈夫之间的工资差异。根据偏好的解释，随着男性在职业中所占比例的增加，这种差异应该变得不那么消极。在搜索成本的解释下，这种差异应该随着男性比例的增加而变得更负。我们的研究结果与搜索成本的解释是一致的。此外，使用特定职业的工作场所的沟通指数，我们证明了结果是最一致的搜索成本机制的职业与更大程度的工作场所的沟通。最后，我们发现，匹配领域的程度，夫妻双方都有大学学位的搜索成本的解释也是一致的。
Married individuals match with spouses who share their occupation more frequently than should happen by chance if marriage markets are large frictionless search markets covering a particular geographic area. This suggests that either there is a preference for same-occupation matches or that search costs are lower within occupation. This paper uses 2008-2015 data from the American Community Survey to analyze same-occupation matching among a sample of recently married couples. Our empirical strategy compares the difference in wages between same-occupation husbands and different-occupation husbands across occupations with different percent male workers. Under a preference explanation, this difference should become less negative as the share of males in the occupation increases. Under a search cost explanation, this difference should become more negative as the share of males increases. Our results are consistent with the search cost explanation. Furthermore, using an occupation-specific index of workplace communication, we demonstrate that the results are most consistent with the search cost mechanism for occupations with a greater degree of workplace communication. Finally, we show that matching on field of degree for couples in which both spouses have a college degree is also consistent with the search cost explanation.