Revealed Preference Models for Separating Preferences and Availability Effects in Marriage Formation

• Activity Number: 459 - Statistical Methods for Social Interactions
• Type: Invited
• Date/Time: Wednesday, August 10, 2022 : 2:00 PM to 3:50 PM
• Sponsor: Social Statistics Section
• Author(s): Mark Stephen Handcock* and Shuchi Goyal and Michael S. Rendall and Heide M. Jackson
• Companies: University of California - Los Angeles and University of California - Los Angeles and University of Maryland, College Park and University of Maryland, College Park
• Keywords: Marriage model; Survey for Income and Program Participation; Two-sided logit; Two-sided matching; Social networks; relational data

Abstract

Many problems in the social sciences require models for partnership formation that separate latent preferences for partners from the availability of partners. We consider a model for matchings within a bipartite population where individuals have utility for people based on known and latent characteristics. People can form a partnership or remain unpartnered. The model represents both the availability of potential partners of different types and preferences of individuals for such people. We develop Menzel’s (2015) framework to estimate preference parameters based on sample survey data on partnerships and population composition. We conduct simulation studies based on new marriages observed in the Survey for Income and Program Participation (SIPP) to show that, for realistic population sizes, the model recovers preference parameters that are invariant under different population availabilities. We also develop confidence intervals that have correct coverage. This model can be applied in family demography to understand individual preferences given different availabilities.