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Returns To Education For Women, Assortative Marriage Matching, And Home Production, Sunha Myong

Research Collection School Of Economics

I estimate returns to college education for women, accounting for how assortative marriage matching and the home production affect labor supply and fertility choice, based on the National Longitudinal Study of Youth 1979 and the NLSY79 Child/Young Adults 1986—2012. First, the gain from home production, as measured by the average educational outcome of children, explains more than 80% of the total return. The direct impact of women’s college education on children’s outcome is much larger than the indirect effect through the household income and time investment. Women’s college attainment rates would decrease by 8% without assortative marriage matching and by …