Marital sorting, inequality and the role of female labor supply: Evidence from East and West Germany

"This paper examines to what extent marital sorting affects cross-sectional earnings inequality in Germany over the past three decades, while explicitly taking into account labor supply choices. Using rich micro data, the observed distribution of couples' earnings is compared to a counterf...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Pestel, Nico
Institution:ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
Format: TEXT
Language:English
Published: Mannheim 2015
ZEW
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19100028124919282009-Marital-sorting,-inequality-an.htm
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author Pestel, Nico
author_facet Pestel, Nico
collection Library items
description "This paper examines to what extent marital sorting affects cross-sectional earnings inequality in Germany over the past three decades, while explicitly taking into account labor supply choices. Using rich micro data, the observed distribution of couples' earnings is compared to a counterfactual of randomly matched spouses. Hypothetical earnings are predicted based on a structural model of household labor supply. For West Germany, a positive effect of marital sorting on inequality is found after adjusting for labor supply behavior, while the effect is limited when earnings are taken as given. This means that there is positive sorting in earnings potential which is veiled by relatively low female labor force participation. In East Germany, the impact of marital sorting on inequality is highly disequalizing irrespective of adjusting for labor supply choices. This is mainly due to the fact that East German women are much more attached to the labor market."
format TEXT
geographic Germany
id 19100028124919282009_6a0fd72a63a241d88673d9afc3fac63b
institution ETUI-European Trade Union Institute
is_hierarchy_id 19100028124919282009_6a0fd72a63a241d88673d9afc3fac63b
is_hierarchy_title Marital sorting, inequality and the role of female labor supply: Evidence from East and West Germany
language English
physical 43 p.
Digital
publishDate 2015
publisher Mannheim
ZEW
spellingShingle Pestel, Nico
dual career couple
labour supply
wage differential
women workers
Marital sorting, inequality and the role of female labor supply: Evidence from East and West Germany
thumbnail https://www.labourline.org/Image_prev.jpg?Archive=107784692596
title Marital sorting, inequality and the role of female labor supply: Evidence from East and West Germany
topic dual career couple
labour supply
wage differential
women workers
url https://www.labourline.org/KENTIKA-19100028124919282009-Marital-sorting,-inequality-an.htm