We’ve talked about income inequality a couple of years ago; specifically touching on the role of marriage patterns and assortative mating in household income levels. We’ve also discussed the economics of assortative mating more directly – the deeply ingrained tendency of people to marry other people like themselves with similar educational backgrounds, cultural values, personalities, and career orientations. One interesting result of this is that the women’s liberation movement in the 1960s and 1970s planted seeds of radical income inequality that are just now coming to fruition. Of course, it’s not the only cause of income inequality, but it certainly does play a meaningful role in the gap that has developed between the well-heeled and the penurious.