Fatter Attraction: Anthropometric and Socioeconomic Matching on the Marriage Market

S-Tier
Journal: Journal of Political Economy
Year: 2012
Volume: 120
Issue: 4
Pages: 659 - 695

Score contribution per author:

2.681 = (α=2.01 / 3 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

We construct a marriage market model of matching along multiple dimensions, some of which are unobservable, in which individual preferences can be summarized by a one-dimensional index combining the various characteristics. We show that, under testable assumptions, these indices are ordinally identified and that the male and female trade-offs between their partners' characteristics are overidentified. Using PSID data on married couples, we recover the marginal rates of substitution between body mass index (BMI) and wages or education: men may compensate 1.3 additional units of BMI with a 1 percent increase in wages, whereas women may compensate two BMI units with 1 year of education.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:ucp:jpolec:doi:10.1086/667941
Journal Field
General
Author Count
3
Added to Database
2026-01-25