We study racial-ethnic disparities in marital and economic status by linking American Community Survey respondents born in 1978-87 to their parents’ tax records. Conditional on childhood family income (CFI), we find that the average Black non-Hispanic woman obtains 60 percent less partner income than does the average White non-Hispanic woman, driven both by a lower propensity to be partnered and a lower partner CFI rank. These marriage market dynamics account for 85 percent of the observed—and large—gap in intergenerational family income mobility. We also show that mobility gaps are larger, and rates of intermarriage lower, in birth areas with greater CFI inequality and racial-ethnic segregation. We discuss a simple model in which these patterns originate from segmentation of the marriage market along racial-ethnic lines combined with imperfect assortative matching on economic status. We comment on the implications of our findings for policy.

Others in Series

Working Paper

Business Dynamics Statistics for Single-Unit Firms

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Author RICHARD BEEM, CHRISTOPHER GOETZ, MARTHA STINSON, AND SEAN WANG

Working Paper Number CES-22-57

The Business Dynamics Statistics of Single Unit Firms provides quarterly data on firm exit and employment changes, shedding new light on the COVID-19 recession.

Working Paper

Eclipse of Rent-Sharing: The Effects of Managers' Business Education on Wages and the Labor Share in the U.S. and Denmark

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Author DARON ACEMOGLU, ALEX XI HE, AND DANIEL LE MAIRE

Working Paper Number CES-22-58

This paper provides evidence from the U.S. and Denmark that managers with a business degree reduce employees’ wages and labor share at their firms.

Working Paper

Estimating the Impact of the Age of Criminal Majority: Decomposing Multiple Treatments in a Regression Discontinuity Framework

January 2023

Author MICHAEL MUELLER-SMITH, BENJAMIN PYLE, AND CAROLINE WALKER

Working Paper Number CES-23-01

This paper studies the impact of adult prosecution on recidivism and employment trajectories for adolescent, first-time felony defendants.

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Page Last Revised - December 20, 2022

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