Working paper 16(2014)

Methodological report: measurement of education-specific mating squeeze

By Yolien De Hauw, Francesca Piazza and Jan Van Bavel

Abstract: A long-standing theory in family demography points out that marriage rates for both men and women are affected by the number of suitable marriage partners available in the local marriage market. In its most basic form, the marriage squeeze hypothesis holds that marriage prospects are lower if the number of unmarried persons of the desired age is low. We propose to update the concept of the marriage squeeze in ways that make it more relevant for partnership and family formation today. This paper reviews ways of measuring the education-specific mating squeeze.

Posted August 12 2014 – Read more