Fatter Attraction: Anthropometric and Socioeconomic Matching on the Marriage Market

Pierre A. Chiappori; Sonia Oreffice; Climent Quintana-Domeque

Title:: Fatter Attraction: Anthropometric and Socioeconomic Matching on the Marriage Market
Author(s):: Chiappori, Pierre A.
Oreffice, Sonia
Quintana-Domeque, Climent
Date:: 2011
Type:: Working papers
Department:: Economics
Permanent URL:: http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:10481
Series:: Department of Economics Discussion Papers
Part Number:: 1011-06
Abstract:: We construct a matching model on the marriage market along more than one characteristic, where individuals have preferences over physical attractiveness and socioeconomic characteristics that can be summarized by a one-dimensional index combining these various attributes. We show that under a (testable) separability assumption, the indices are ordinally identified. We estimate the model using data from the PSID. Our separability tests do not reject. We find that among men, a 10% increase in BMI can be compensated by a higher wage of around 3%. Similarly, for women, an additional year of education may compensate up to three BMI units.
Subject(s):: Economic theory
Social research

Metadata:: text | xml
Suggested Citation:: Pierre A. Chiappori, Sonia Oreffice, Climent Quintana-Domeque, 2011, Fatter Attraction: Anthropometric and Socioeconomic Matching on the Marriage Market, Columbia University Academic Commons, http://hdl.handle.net/10022/AC:P:10481.