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Social Norms, Labor Market Opportunities, and the Marriage Gap for Skilled Women

Author

Listed:
  • Marianne Bertrand

    (Booth School of Business, University of Chicago)

  • Patricia Cortés

    (Questrom School of Business, Boston University)

  • Claudia Olivetti

    (Boston College
    NBER)

  • Jessica Pan

    (National University of Singapore)

Abstract

In most of the developed world, skilled women marry at a lower rate than unskilled women. We document heterogeneity across countries in how the marriage gap for skilled women has evolved over time. As labor market opportunities for women have improved, the marriage gap has been growing in some countries but shrinking in others. We discuss a theoretical model in which the (negative) social attitudes towards working women might contribute towards the lower marriage rate of skilled women, and might also induce a non-linear relationship between their labor market prospects and their marriage outcomes. The model is suited to understand the dynamics of the marriage gap for skilled women over time within a country with set social attitudes towards working women. The model also delivers predictions about how the marriage gap for skilled women should react to changes in their labor market opportunities across countries with more or less conservative attitudes towards working women. We test the key predictions of this model in a panel of 23 developed countries, as well as in a panel of US states.

Suggested Citation

  • Marianne Bertrand & Patricia Cortés & Claudia Olivetti & Jessica Pan, 2016. "Social Norms, Labor Market Opportunities, and the Marriage Gap for Skilled Women," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 902, Boston College Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:902
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Marriage; Social Norms; Gender;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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