Female income and the divorce decision: evidence from micro data

Abstract

Escalating divorce rates during the 1960s and 1970s led to large numbers of academic investigations into the causes of divorce. Most of these studies concentrated on a significant increase in female income that resulted from rising female labour force participation rates. The difficulty with quantifying these arguments is that it is possible to observe the income of married females or it is possible to observe the income of divorced females, but it is not possible to observe both outcomes, simultaneously. This research attempts to resolve these difficulties by using sample selection techniques to correct for possible bias from simple observation of the income of married and divorced females.

Marriage, divorce and economic activity in the US: 1960–2008

“…To the extent that cyclical fluctuations affect men and women differently, a change in economic conditions can disrupt bargaining power within marriages, which has implications for the divorce rate (Kesselring and Bremmer, 2006). But the direction is uncertain.…”

’Til booze do us part: alcohol consumption and marital dissolution

“…In fact, several studies have shown that female labor force participation is related to the probability of the marital dissolution (see, e.g., Kesselring and Bremmer 2006;Stevenson 2008). It should be mentioned that there are many other factors that might have an influence on marital dissolution (see, e.g., Amato 2010).…”

“…By contrast, some authors suggest that the relation between increased female labor force participation and divorce might be negative. When the married woman's value in the labor market increases, it might strengthen the marriage and reduce the probability of divorce (Kesselring and Bremmer 2006). In our analysis, we include the law dummy (law) variable, which takes value one after the law reform occurs and zero otherwise.…”

The transition to mid-life divorce

“…However, to my knowledge, there are no empirical studies that directly address the thoughts, feelings, and special circumstances of the decision maker as they relate to the deliberation period. For instance, Kesselring and Bremmer (2006) present recent empirical evidence that higher female earnings lead to higher divorce rates, and relatedly, Hoffman and Duncan (1988) find that the fall in women's average income relative to financial need is close to 30% in the first year after divorce. Although these types of studies lend credence to Becker's well-known hypothesis, they yield no insight as to which factors either slow or hasten the divorce decision.…”