Home » Education, Income, and ‘Marriageable’ Men

Education, Income, and ‘Marriageable’ Men

by Robert VerBruggen (@RAVerBruggen)

In the U.S., about 40% of kids are born to unmarried mothers. For decades, scholars and commentators have debated why this number rose so much in the latter half of the 20th century—and why marriage has continued to thrive among those with college degrees while deteriorating among those with lower levels of education.

A new paper from Clara Chambers, Benjamin Goldman, and Joseph Winkelmann helps to unpack some of the dynamics here, diving into the complicated interplay among marriage, income, education, and fertility. It supports a version of the “marriageable men” hypothesis, which posits that marriage has declined among the less educated because many men at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder are not seen as suitable marriage partners, especially in a world where women have greater economic opportunities and/or access to safety-net benefits.

Thestudyislargelyframedaroundaminorparadox.It’scommonlythoughtthatwomenplaceahighvalueon“marryingup”—andforseveraldecadesnow,womenhavebeenmorelikelythanmentoattainBAs.Ifwomeninsistonmarryingsomeonewithequalorhighereduc