Abstract:
In this paper, I examine the effect higher education has on the age of marriage and
how this differs between black and white women. Becker’s theory of positive assortative
mating in marriage markets lead me to predict higher levels of education would decrease the
probability of being married by 30 and 40 for black women more than white women. My
probit regressions showed that, despite an initial delay in marriage, increased education had a
positive effect on the probability of marriage for black women confirming that lesser
educated black women are more at risk of falling into the racial marriage gap.
