scholarly journals Where Are You From? Assortative Mating by Place of Origin in the United States

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
HAO-CHUN CHENG

Previous studies showed that assortative mating occurred based on different social dimensions, such as age, education, and race or ethnicity. However, these studies ignored the potential impact of place of origin on people’s place identity and habitus and their associations with assortative mating in the United States. Using the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID), in conjunction with the Current Population Survey (CPS), this study finds a clear pattern of assortative mating based on place of origin. Moreover, the results suggest that there are regional differences in assortative mating by place of origin, especially for women. Also, the length of residence shapes people’s habitus and thus the pattern of homogeneous matching by place of origin. The significant effects of race or ethnicity and the conditions of the marriage market before marriage vary by scale of place and gender. These findings suggest that place of origin is another dimension of assortative mating.

Author(s):  
Bhashkar Mazumder

This article reviews the contributions of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) to the study of intergenerational mobility. The PSID enables researchers to track individuals as they form new households and covers many dimensions of socioeconomic status over large portions of the life cycle, making the data ideal for studying intergenerational mobility. Studies have used PSID data to show that the United States is among the least economically mobile countries among advanced economies. The PSID has been instrumental to understanding various dimensions of intergenerational mobility, including occupation; wealth; education; consumption; health; and group differences by gender, race, and region. Studies using the PSID have also cast light on the mechanisms behind intergenerational persistence.


Author(s):  
Kenneth A. Couch

Employment tenure, job turnover and returns to general and specific skills are examined for male workers in Germany and the United States using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics.  Employment in Germany is characterized by longer duration and less frequent turnover than in the United States.  Returns to experience and tenure are lower in Germany than in the U.S.; however, peak earnings occur later.  This delayed peak in the employment-earnings profile provides an incentive for German workers to remain longer with their employers and change jobs less frequently.


2018 ◽  
Vol 66 (3) ◽  
pp. 448-467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junia Howell ◽  
James R Elliott

Abstract This study investigates a largely ignored contributor to wealth inequality in the United States: damages from natural hazards, which are expected to increase substantially in coming years. Instead of targeting a specific large-scale disaster and assessing how different subpopulations recover, we begin with a nationally representative sample of respondents from the restricted, geocoded Panel Study of Income Dynamics. We follow them through time (1999–2013) as hazard damages of varying scales accrue in the counties where they live. This design synthesizes the longitudinal, population-centered approach common in stratification research with a broad hazard-centered focus that extends beyond disasters to integrate ongoing environmental dynamics more centrally into the production of social inequality. Results indicate that as local hazard damages increase, so does wealth inequality, especially along lines of race, education, and homeownership. At any given level of local damage, the more aid an area receives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the more this inequality grows. These findings suggest that two defining social problems of our day – wealth inequality and rising natural hazard damages – are dynamically linked, requiring new lines of research and policy making in the future.


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