War and marriage: Assortative mating and the World War II GI Bill
Research Report:
Research SummaryAPA Citation:
Larsen, M. F., McCarthy, T. J., Moulton, J. G., Page, M. E., & Patel, A. J. (2015). War and marriage: Assortative mating and the World War II GI Bill. Demography, 52(5), 1431–1461. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13524-015-0426-x
Focus:
Couples
Other
Veterans
Branch of Service:
Multiple branches
Military Affiliation:
Veteran
Subject Affiliation:
Veteran
Population:
Adulthood (18 yrs & older)
Thirties (30 - 39 yrs)
Middle age (40 - 64 yrs)
Methodology:
Quantitative Study
Cross-Sectional Study
Secondary Analysis
Authors:
Larsen, Matthew F., McCarthy, T. J., Moulton, Jeremy G., Page, Marianne E., Patel, Ankur J.
Abstract:
World War II and its subsequent GI Bill have been widely credited with playing a transformative role in American society, but there have been few quantitative analyses of these historical events’ broad social effects. We exploit between-cohort variation in the probability of military service to investigate how WWII and the GI Bill altered the structure of marriage, and find that it had important spillover effects beyond its direct effect on men’s educational attainment. Our results suggest that the additional education received by returning veterans caused them to “sort” into wives with significantly higher levels of education. This suggests an important mechanism by which socioeconomic status may be passed on to the next generation.
Publisher/Sponsoring Organization:
Springer
Publication Type:
Article
REACH Publication
Author Affiliation:
Department of Economics, Lafayette College, MFL
Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California, TJM
Department of Public Policy, University of North Carolina, JGM
Department of Economics, University of California Davis, MEP
U.S. Department of the Treasury, AJP
Keywords:
education, marital sorting, WWII GI Bill
REACH Publication Type:
Research Summary
Sponsors:
National Science Foundation, Grant number: SES-0350988
REACH Newsletter: