Data and code for: Assortative Matching at the Top of the Distribution: Evidence from the World's Most Exclusive Marriage Market

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Marc Goñi, University of Bergen (UiB)

Version:  View help for Version V1

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  Appendix 09/24/2021 03:53:PM
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Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary
Using novel data on peerage marriages in Britain, I find that low search costs and marriage-market segregation can generate sorting. Peers courted in the London Season, a matching technology introducing aristocratic bachelors to debutantes. When Queen Victoria went into mourning for her husband, the Season was interrupted (1861-63), raising search costs, and reducing market segregation. I exploit exogenous variation in women's probability to marry during the interruption from their age in 1861. The interruption increased peer-commoner intermarriage by 40% and reduced sorting along landed wealth by 30%. Eventually, this reduced peers' political power and affected public policy in late-19C England.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms Marriage; Matching technology; Search frictions; Assortative matching; Social status; Elite persistence; Public goods provision
JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      C78 Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
      H41 Public Goods
      J12 Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
      N33 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: Europe: Pre-1913
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage Britain
Universe:  View help for Universe Peers, peers' daughters, peers' sons, and their spouses in 19C Britain
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) geographic information system (GIS) data; observational data; other

Methodology

Response Rate:  View help for Response Rate Not applicable
Sampling:  View help for Sampling The baseline sample is peers' daughters aged 15 to 35 in 1861 and their spouses.
Data Source:  View help for Data Source The data includes a combination of hand-collected archive sources, printed records, and published data on the peerage. See article and README for details.
Collection Mode(s):  View help for Collection Mode(s) other
Weights:  View help for Weights Not applicable
Unit(s) of Observation:  View help for Unit(s) of Observation Individuals
Geographic Unit:  View help for Geographic Unit Geo-located country seats

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Published Versions

V1 [2022-06-15]

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