To See or Not to See: Another Look at the Mechanisms Behind Growing Earnings Homogamy in the United States

Changes in assortative mating matter more for earnings homogamy than prior work had reported. The prior 10.8% estimate was unstable owing to random noise in the samples. Reducing noise in the samples yields a larger estimated contribution of assortative mating. Cohorts with higher earnings homogamy following marriage were already characterized by higher homogamy at marriage entry. Earnings assortative mating changed in a nonlinear trajectory after 1970.