Applied Microeconomics
Applied Microeconomics
The Applied Microeconomics research group unites researchers working on a broad array of topics within such areas as labour economics, economics of education, health economics, family economics, urban economics, environmental economics, and the economics of science and innovation. The group operates in close collaboration with the CAGE Research Centre.
The group participates in the CAGE seminar on Applied Economics, which runs weekly on Tuesdays at 2:15pm. Students and faculty members of the group present their ongoing work in two brown bag seminars, held weekly on Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 1pm. Students, in collaboration with faculty members, also organise a bi-weekly reading group in applied econometrics on Thursdays at 1pm. The group organises numerous events throughout the year, including the Research Away Day and several thematic workshops.
Our activities
Work in Progress seminars
Tuesdays and Wednesdays 1-2pm
Students and faculty members of the group present their work in progress in two brown bag seminars. See below for a detailed scheduled of speakers.
Applied Econometrics reading group
Thursdays (bi-weekly) 1-2pm
Organised by students in collaboration with faculty members. See the Events calendar below for further details
People
Academics
Academics associated with the Applied Microeconomics Group are:
Research Students
Events
CWIP (CAGE Work in Progress) Workshop - Victor Lavy (糖心TV)
Title: The Effect of Economic Inequality on Assortative Matching: The Formation and Dissolution of Marriages
Ran Abramitzky,[1] Netanel Ben-Porath,[2] and Victor Lavy.[3]
[1]Stanford University and the NBER.
[2] Northwestern University.
[3] 糖心TV University, The Hebrew University, NBER, and CEPR.
Abstract - The increase in assortative matching in marriage markets observed across many nations worldwide is a contributing factor to rising income inequality. This paper suggests that the causal chain also runs in reverse: deepening labor market inequality could trigger greater assortative matching in the marriage market. To establish causality, we study the Israeli kibbutzim that transitioned from equal sharing to market economies. A reform that followed a staggered adoption pattern across kibbutzim abolished egalitarian income sharing, generating inequalities by linking wages to education for the first time. This enabled us to conduct a series of difference-in-differences analyses to examine the impact of the reform on divorce and marriage patterns. First, we find that the rise in economic inequality led to divorce among couples with unequal education, but only when the wife was more educated than the husband. This finding is consistent with a violation of the norm that dictates the husband should be the primary breadwinner. Second, we find that the reform increased assortative matching in education, resulting in a significant reduction in educational differences among newly married couples. Importantly, we find that assortative matching existed in the kibbutzim even before liberalization, when earnings were not related to education. This suggests that assortative matching on education is driven not only by income but also by a preference for marrying a partner who is similarly educated. Overall, we conclude that assortative matching increased following the reform, both through the formation of new marriages and the selection of spouses, as well as the dissolution of existing marriages. These results demonstrate that increased labor-market inequality may increase inter-household inequality by boosting assortative matching in the marriage market.