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学历，逐渐成为婚姻选择中一个重要的因素，但是调查显示，教育水平相当的人成双对了，对社会可能不是一件好事……
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Assortative mating --- Matching theory
选型婚配——匹配理论
【1】"HERE'S what nobody is telling you: Find a husband on campus before you graduate," wrote Susan Patton, a human-resources consultant, in 2013. In an infamous letter to the editor of Princeton’s student newspaper, Ms Patton warned female students at the university that they will "never again be surrounded by this concentration of men who are worthy of [them]". Critics responded harshly. Ms Patton recalls that she was branded "a traitor to feminism, a traitor to co-education and an elitist".
assortative：[ə'sɔ:trtətɪv] adj.相配的，相称的，协调的
mating：[ˈmeɪtɪŋ] n.交配
campus ：[ˈkæmpəs] n.校园；校区
infamous：[ˈɪnfəməs] adj.声名狼藉的；无耻的，伤风败俗的
worthy：[ˈwɜ:rði] adj. 有价值的；可尊敬的；值得的；配得上的
harshly：[ˈhɑrʃlɪ] adv. 粗糙地；粗暴地；刺耳地
traitor：[ˈtreɪtə(r)] n.叛徒；卖国贼；背叛者；背信弃义的人
Some say he's a traitor to the working class.
一些人说他是工人阶级的叛徒。
feminism：[ˈfɛməˌnɪzəm] n.女权主义;争取女权的运动
elitist：[ɪ'li:tɪst] adj.优秀人才的；杰出者的 n.优秀人材；杰出人物；杰出人物统治论的鼓吹者
2013年，一位人力资源顾问苏珊·巴顿说：“这一点没有人会告诉你：毕业前在校园里找一个丈夫。” 在一封给普林斯顿学生报编辑的声名狼藉的信中，巴顿女士警告大学里的女生们，她们毕业后“再也不会被这么多与之相配的男性包围了”。批评者们对此反应强烈。巴顿女士回忆说，她被冠以“女权主义的叛徒、共同教育的叛徒和精英主义论者”的称号。
［2］Economists might offer yet another critique of Ms Patton’s letter: it was largely unnecessary. It is clear to academics that people tend to marry spouses with similar levels of education. They also know that "assortative mating", as the practice is called in the jargon, is exacerbating income inequality. In America, Britain, Denmark, Germany and Norway, they have found that household income would be more evenly spread if couples were less keen to marry similar sorts.
critique：[krɪˈtik] n.评论文章，评论；批评，批判 vt.批判；发表评论
academic：[ˌækəˈdɛmɪk] adj.学院的，大学的，学会的 n.学者
spouse：[spaʊs] n.配偶，夫或妻
jargon：[ˈdʒɑ:gən] n.行话；行业术语；黑话
Expert often confuse laymen with their jargon.
专家们常常用行话把外行弄得稀里糊涂。
exacerbate：[ɪgˈzæsəbeɪt] vt.激怒；使恶化；使加重
Depopulation exacerbates the problem.
人口的急剧减少使得该问题更加严重。
household：[ˈhaʊshoʊld] n.家庭；家庭，户
经济学家可以对巴顿女士的信提出另一种批评：信中所说观点很大程度上是不必要的。学者们认为，人们倾向于和有着相近教育水平的人结婚。他们也知道，这种在专业术语中被称作选型婚配的行为，加剧了收入不平等。学者发现，在美国、英国、丹麦、德国和挪威，如果夫妻不执着于和相似水平的人结婚，家庭收入分布会更平均。
［3］Less clear, however, is whether or not assortative mating is on the rise. Answering this question is hard, because the ratio of educated men to educated women has shifted over time. That university-educated men are now more likely to marry university-educated women may not show a change inspousal preferences. It may simply reflect the increased number of women with degrees.
spousal：['spaʊsl] n.结婚，婚礼 adj.结婚的
学术界不清楚的是，选型婚配是否在上升。这个问题很难回答，因为受过教育人群的男女比例随着时间而改变了。现在受过大学教育的男性更愿意和受过大学教育的女性结婚，但这可能无法显示配偶偏好上的变化，只是反映了高学历女性数目的上升。
［4］The latest iteration of the debate comes in a recent paper by Pierre-André Chiappori and Bernard Salanié, of Columbia University, and Yoram Weiss, of Tel Aviv University, which argues that assortative mating is indeed growing. They note that in the mid-20th century households were primarily concerned with divvying up chores . Since then, inventions like the washing machine and frozen food have meant that people can spend less time on housework. At the same time, computers have increased the demand for skilled labour. The authors argue that parents worried about their children's future now have to focus on raising the brightest youngsters possible, and one of the surest ways to have bright children is to marry a bright spouse. By building an economic model which takes into account these shifting preferences and testing it against census data, the authors conclude that Americans born in 1972 do indeed have a stronger preference for better-educated partners than those born in 1943.
iteration：[ˌɪtəˈreɪʃn] n.反复；重述；重述的事；[计算机]循环
divvy：[ˈdɪvi] v.分配 n.分摊，分配，部分
chore：[tʃɔ:(r)] n.零星工作（尤指家常杂务）；令人讨厌的或繁重的工作
He is doing household chores.
他正在做家务。
surest：[ʃʊərɪst] adj.一定（ sure的最高级 ）；无疑的；肯定要做某事的；不容置疑的
census：[ˈsensəs] n.人口普查，统计;人口财产调查
哥伦比亚大学的皮诶尔·安德烈·基亚波里和伯纳德·萨拉尼，以及特拉维夫大学的约拉姆·韦斯等人近日的一篇论文，引发了这场争论的新一轮循环。该论文提出选型婚配的确在增长。他们指出20世纪中期家庭主要关心的是如何分配家务。从那时起，洗衣机和冷冻食品等发明意味着人们可以少花些时间在做家务上。同时，电脑也增长了技术型劳动力的需求。论文的作者认为，为孩子未来操心的父母们，现在必须关注如何培养最聪明的孩子，而培养聪明孩子的方法之一就是找一个聪明的配偶。该论文建立了一个经济模型，该模型考虑了这些变化偏好，测试了人口普查数据。他们得出一个结论：1972年出生的美国人，确实比1943年出生的美国人，更偏好有着良好教育的另一半。
［5］One implication of assortative mating is that most estimates of the returns on investment in a university education err on the low side, as they fail to take spouses' earnings into account. Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York finds that the annualised return on investment for a four-year bachelor’s degree in America rose sharply between 1980 and 2000 but has since stabilised at around 15%. Our calculations show that, if a spouse's income is added to a person's own, the returns to higher education have increased steadily since 2000, now reaching 18%. Similar patterns hold for both men and women. Gender inequality in lecture halls has faded; household income inequality has widened. Marital choices are exacerbating household income inequality.
err：[ɜ:(r)] vi.犯错，做错；走上歧途；犯罪
He erred from the right path.
他误入歧途。
bachelor：[ˈbætʃələ(r)] n.学士;单身汉
marital：[ˈmærɪtl] adj.婚姻的，夫妻（间）的
选型婚配的一个影响是，对于大学教育的投资的回报，大部分估计结果都偏低，因为其中没有考虑到配偶的收入（也是一种回报）。《纽约联邦储备银行》的研究发现，1980至2000年间美国四年制学士学位的年投资回报率急剧上升，但此后它就稳定在15%左右。我们的计算结果表明，如果将一个人的收入和其配偶的收入加起来，2000年以来高等教育的回报率就在稳步上升，现在已经达到了18%。男性和女性这方面是相似的。演讲厅内的性别不平等已经减弱，家庭收入不平等则扩大了。婚姻的选择加剧了家庭收入不平等。
关于如何选择伴侣，每个人都会有自己的标准和判断，以自己的幸福为出发点是很合理的。文中提到的收入不平等现象，背后根源应该归为教育不均的影响，如何使得教育资源分配更加公平，就不是个人能够决定的问题了。
英文原文：
http://www.economist.com
讲解：霞姐 / Tiassa / Angel
翻译 / 编排 / 校对：Angel
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