Unequal Origins, Unequal Trajectories: Social Stratification over the Life Course by Siwei Cheng A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Public Policy and Sociology) in the University of Michigan 2015 Doctoral Committee: Professor Yu Xie, Co-Chair Professor Mary E. Corcoran, Co-Chair Professor Jennifer S. Barber Professor Jeffrey Andrew Smith i Acknowledgements First of all, I would like to thank my co-chair in Sociology, Yu Xie, for his invaluable guidance and support in the past six years. I am very grateful to him not just for teaching me lots of things, but also for teaching me how little I know. He taught me that it is exactly the knowledge of our “knowing nothing” that pushes scholars to be extremely careful and cautious in searching for the truth. This is indeed an important piece of advice that I will keep in mind for many years throughout my research career. I am greatly indebted to my co-chair in Public Policy, Mary Corcoran, for her endless encouragement and support. When I started my dissertation work, I was better at speaking in equations than I was better at speaking in English. Mary always teaches me how to “translate” equations and statistical methods into clear, strong, and meaningful language. My other committee members have been tremendously helpful and supportive as I progressed through my dissertation. Jennifer Barber taught me how to be a devoted researcher at work and an excellent teacher in class. Her expertise in family demography has always been a valuable asset to me. She helps me identify the contributions of my papers, and pushes me to clarify them in the front end. Jeff Smith is the most sociology-friendly economist that I know. He is always generous with his comments and critiques. His knowledge and insights in statistical methods and their interpretations have helped me strengthen my work. My dissertation chapters have also benefited from the advice from a number of fellow students and scholars. My thanks also go to Hongwei Xu, Xiang Zhou, and participants of the ii Quantitative Methodology Seminar and the Inequality and Family Workshop at the University of Michigan, for their helpful comments on earlier drafts of Chapter 2. Sasha Killewald and Margaret Gough both provided valuable comments and suggestions on multiple drafts of Chapter 3. Paula England was very generous with her time and comments when I talked to her about Chapter 3 at a conference. I am deeply indebted to my friends and colleagues at the University of Michigan, without whom I would never have completed this dissertation. I acknowledge Barbara Anderson, N.E. Barr, Deirdre Bloome, Sarah Burgard, Elizabeth Bruch, Fan Fei, Cindy Glovinsky, Kim Greenwell, Tong Guo, Yoonsun Han, Minhee Kim, Huiyun Kim, Howard Kimeldolf, Qing Lai, Huitian Lei, Kathy Lin, Airan Liu, Xi Lu, Lin Ma, Rhonda Moats, Zheng Mu, Lisa Neidert, Xingyu Pan, Sojung Park, Qiang Wang, Xiao Wang, Geoff Wodtke, Luofu Ye, Chen Zhang, Xinyuan Zhang, Xiaolei Zhao, Wei Zhou, Yiwen Zhou. During my doctoral study, I received financial support from a National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) training grant to the Population Studies Center at the University of Michigan, from Marshall Weinberg Research Fellowship, Joan B. Kessler Award, the Rackham Graduate School, and the Department of Sociology at the University of Michigan. Finally, I would like to thank my parents for their unconditional support and encouragement. Special thanks are due to my dear husband Xiye, an economist who (surprisingly) took it very well when I said I do not entirely agree with economists, and who shared with me the most memorable moments of my Ph.D. life. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. ii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... viii Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... x Chapter 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 2 A Life Course Trajectory Framework for Understanding the Intracohort Pattern of Wage Inequality ................................................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................. 5 LIFE COURSE TRAJECTORY AS THE BASIS FOR THE INTRACOHORT PATTERN OF WAGE INEQUALITY ........................................................................................................................................................ 8 THREE ESSENTIAL PROPERTIES OF THE LCT FRAMEWORK .......................................................... 12 Random Variability Property ................................................................................................................. 12 Trajectory Heterogeneity Property ..................................................................................................... 14 Cumulative Advantage Property ........................................................................................................... 16 MATHEMATICAL FORMALIZATION OF THE LCT FRAMEWORK ...................................................... 19 Model Setup ................................................................................................................................................... 19 Deriving the Intracohort Pattern of Wage Inequality .................................................................. 24 APPLICATION OF THE LCT FRAMEWORK: THE INTRACOHORT PATTERN OF WAGE INEQUALITY IN THE UNITED STATES ...................................................................................................... 29 Data and Sample Restriction .................................................................................................................. 29 Statistical Strategy ...................................................................................................................................... 35 Testing for the Significance of Three Essential Properties of the LCT Framework ......... 39 Assessing the Contributions of Three Mechanisms to the Observed Growth of Intracohort Wage Inequality ....................................................................................................................................................... 43 AUXILIARY ANALYSES ................................................................................................................................... 49 Introducing the Temporal Variation of Wage Growth Rate ....................................................... 49 Introducing Time-varying Controls for Work and Family Domain Experiences ............... 51 DISCUSSION OF LIMITATIONS .................................................................................................................... 54 CONCLUSION .................................................................................................................................................... 58 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................................... 63 Chapter 3 The Accumulation of (Dis)advantage: The Intersection of Gender and Race in the Long-Term Wage Effect of Marriage .......................................................... 93 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 93 SHIFTING FROM STATIC TO LIFE COURSE APPROACH ...................................................................... 96 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ..................................................................................................................... 98 INTERSECTION OF GENDER AND RACE ................................................................................................ 100 TESTABLE HYPOTHESES ............................................................................................................................ 102 DATA, SAMPLE, AND MEASURES .............................................................................................................. 104 Data ................................................................................................................................................................ 104 Sample Restrictions................................................................................................................................. 104 Measures ...................................................................................................................................................... 105 ANALYTIC STRATEGY .................................................................................................................................. 108 Selection Concerns .................................................................................................................................. 108 Model Specification ................................................................................................................................