Economic Consequences Of Divorce Research Articles

Reassessing Chronic Strain: A Research Note on Women's Income Dynamics After Divorce and Separation.

The economic consequences of divorce and separation for women are commonly associated with the chronic strain model, according to which women's losses are large and persistent. This research note shifts the focus to a crisis model highlighting women's potential of, and routes to, recovery from initial losses. Drawing on German Socio-Economic Panel data (1984-2021) on women in marital and cohabiting unions (N ∼ 27,000 women, N ∼ 3,400 divorces and separations), we use fixed-effects regression models and event-history models to analyze changes in equivalized monthly household income and poverty risk across the process of divorce and separation. Results show that most women recovered from their initial economic declines. Although initial losses were common and often sizable, large fractions of women eventually returned to or exceeded the household income expected in the absence of divorce and separation. Recovery was facilitated by the "traditional" route of repartnering and the "modern" route of women mobilizing their productive skills. Both routes appeared more important than the absence of barriers, such as children in the household. We conclude that for the majority of women, the economic consequences of divorce and separation are better described as a temporary crisis than as a chronic strain.

Gender and the Economic Consequences of Divorce in the United States: Variation by Race and Ethnicity

Gender and the Economic Consequences of Divorce in the United States: Variation by Race and Ethnicity

Do the Privileged Always Win? Economic Consequences of Divorce by Income and Gender Groups

Do the Privileged Always Win? Economic Consequences of Divorce by Income and Gender Groups

Islamic Norms, Common Law, and Legal Reasoning: Muslim Personal Law and the Economic Consequences of Divorce in India

Two major judgments of the Indian Supreme Court that awarded Muslim women alimony had very different consequences: Shah Bano (1985) evoked extensive conservative Muslim protest that led to legislation meant to limit alimony among Muslims, while Danial Latifi (2001) faced no overt opposition and was not overturned. These consequences were related to the sources and modes of reasoning used. Shah Bano independently interpreted Qurʾanic verses, suggested that commonly applicable laws may override religious law provisions, and called for uniform family laws. Danial Latifi relied solely on statutes of Indian Muslim law and Islamic norms. It thus followed the Indian state’s usual approach to personal law, which is sensitive to public preference that family life should be regulated according to religious and other cultural norms. However, public opinion provided support to change Muslim law earlier than the 1970s. More extensive changes could be introduced over the next decade in Muslim law based on Islamic norms and Muslim opinion.

The economic consequences of divorce in six OECD countries

AbstractThis article uses longitudinal data to estimate the short‐ and medium‐term economic effects of divorce in the USA, the UK, Switzerland, Korea, Germany and Australia during the first decade of the 21st century. Based on the data collected during the 2000s, in all of the countries studied, divorce had, on average, negative effects on the equivalised household incomes of women. However, the extent and duration of the negative effects of divorce differed markedly between countries. In all of the countries, the effects of divorce on the equivalised household income of men were smaller than for women. Although, using the available data, it is not possible to definitely explain the differences between countries, the analysis presented in this article has demonstrated that the average economic effects of divorce, particularly for women, are heavily influenced by the social security system, the labour market, family models and the family law system of each country. While the social security system and institutional arrangements such as child support and spousal maintenance do influence women's post‐divorce economic outcomes, what is most important in explaining cross‐country differences is women's labour market earnings and the extent to which re‐partnering occurs.

Economic Consequences of Divorce in Korea

Still, the Korean divorce law adheres to fault-based divorce. According to the majority of Korean Supreme Court, the main reason of not admitting no-fault policy is that preconditions of systems for protecting the spouse and children after divorce financially are not yet satisfied in Korea. There have been remarkable development of divorce laws to pursue equality in property division between spouses, including re-conceptualizing pension entitlement as object of property division through Court’s rulings and legislation. As to protect child after divorce, it is noteworthy to see a belated but wise establishment of the state agency to enforce child support obligations and its soft landing. However, we still have miles to go before the divorce laws secure true equality or fairness financially upon divorce.

The Economic Consequences of Divorce in Germany: What Has Changed since the Turn of the Millennium?

Our analysis of data from almost 30 waves of the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP) shows that the economic consequences of divorce are still more negative for women than for men despite increased female labour force participation and, correspondingly, increased numbers of dual earner households. After reviewing recent shifts in the institutional fabric and the social structure of the conservative German welfare state with respect to families and marriage, the empirical analysis investigates the economic consequences of a sample of 844 men and 1,006 women in five dimensions: child custody, support payments, housing, employment, and economic well-being. Change is measured by comparing data from before and after the turn of the millennium.Overall, the analyses show that the economic consequences of divorce are still more negative for women than for men after the turn of the millennium, although female labour participation has increased and the public child care system was expanded. Nevertheless, some signs of change become visible indicating that the gains and losses of marital disruption are not unilaterally distributed among the genders. That men may also depend on incomes of their spouses can be seen for the increasing number of dual earner households. Moreover, after the turn of the millennium, economic dependence on public transfers increased not only for women but also for men.

Trends in the economic consequences of marital and cohabitation dissolution in the United States.

Mothers in the United States use a combination of employment, public transfers, and private safety nets to cushion the economic losses of romantic union dissolution, but changes in maternal labor force participation, government transfer programs, and private social networks may have altered the economic impact of union dissolution over time. Using nationally representative panels from the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) from 1984 to 2007, we show that the economic consequences of divorce have declined since the 1980s owing to the growth in married women's earnings and their receipt of child support and income from personal networks. In contrast, the economic consequences of cohabitation dissolution were modest in the 1980s but have worsened over time. Cohabiting mothers' income losses associated with union dissolution now closely resemble those of divorced mothers. These trends imply that changes in marital stability have not contributed to rising income instability among families with children, but trends in the extent and economic costs of cohabitation have likely contributed to rising income instability for less-advantaged children.

The Economic Consequences of Divorce in Australia

Divorce has become a key life-course risk that can have significant economic impacts. This article uses a new Australian data source that follows families over a 10-year period to estimate the impact of divorce on income and assets. There have been few longitudinal studies of the impact of divorce on assets and relatively few such studies of its impact on income. The article finds that divorce has a substantial negative impact upon the household income of women in the short term, but by 6 years after divorce income had largely recovered to what it would have been had they remained married. In contrast, men who divorce experience a substantially faster rate of increase in income post-divorce than had they remain married. The analysis of asset data reveals that while the gap between the value of assets of the divorced and non-divorced grows post-divorce, it appears that the growing disparity in assets largely reflects pre-divorce differences in assets. The results in this article clearly demonstrate the critical importance of using longitudinal data to estimate the economic and labour market consequences of divorce. While the economic effects of divorce on Australian women appear to be, on average, relatively short-run, the Australian social security system plays a crucial role in protecting the incomes of women post-divorce, particularly those with children.

Homeownership in later life – Does divorce matter?

Abstract This paper evaluates whether the experience of marital breakdown during the life course is associated with the likelihood of exiting from homeownership, and whether this association varies across Europe. In line with previous research on the short- and medium-term housing and economic consequences of divorce, we find that for European men and women alike, this life event is associated with a lower likelihood of being a homeowner in later life. This negative association furthermore varies across institutional contexts, as indicated by: the housing regime (in particular access to mortgage credit); welfare state support; and female employment. In a context of increasing divorce rates and a stronger reliance on housing wealth as a form of welfare provision, our findings may have important policy implications. In many countries, homeownership forms part of the pension mix and hence contributes to economic security. Other benefits relate to housing quality, security of tenure and independence.

Childcare Strategies of Divorced Mothers in Europe: A Comparative Analysis

In this contribution, we focus on the influence of employment-supportive policies on the childcare strategies of a specific subgroup of mothers, namely, divorced mothers. As previous research has shown, the economic consequences of divorce are mitigated by the provision of formal childcare, allowing divorced mothers to combine work and care and thus achieve a decent level of economic well-being. Our main hypotheses deal with the interplay between formal and informal childcare systems. While the crowding-out hypothesis states that formal childcare provision relaxes the functions that used to be provided by informal networks, the crowding-in thesis postulates that mothers use a mixture of strategies in search of an optimal combination between formal and informal childcare. Using longitudinal data from the ECHP for 13 countries, we evaluate the influence of a variety of macro-level indicators referring to the formal and informal care provision on the use of different types of childcare after divorce. Our empirical evidence points at the existence of a crowding-in effect, be it in a specific way. We find that while the use of both formal and informal childcare is mainly driven by the available formal arrangements, social networks fulfil an important complementary role, enabling divorced mothers to increase their use of formal childcare. More specifically, we find that in countries with limited formal childcare provision, extended informal support results in an increased use of formal childcare. In welfare states with ample formal childcare, divorced women need less help from informal caregivers, although the latter are still essential for mothers in order to synchronize work and formal childcare.

Dealing with the economic consequences of divorce for wives: alimony under the Spanish civil code

One of the most complex issues in family law is that of support for a former spouse. Difficulties arising from the economic consequences of divorce do not just concern when and how payment of the maintenance and alimony agreed or awarded must take place. They raise questions about how the nature marriage is perceived and the reasons for imposing obligations when it is terminated. Relevant to these issues are the various economic situations which may arise during marriage, the matrimonial property regime, lost opportunity costs and the matrimonial standard of living. This paper deals with the solutions established to deal with these problems by one of the most recent legal regulations within European countries in this area, those in Spain. This paper considers the current legislation in Spain, the social reality of divorce in that country and constructs a theory concerning alimony based on the practice of the Spanish courts.

Economic Weil-Being Among White Elderly Divorced

This study focuses on the economic consequences of divorce for the elderly. Family incomes of elderly white divorced men and women were compared with their married counterparts for five SES categories. Using t-tests, it was found that, for both genders, incomes for divorced persons were lower than incomes for married persons. Family incomes were regressed on a set of four control variables and a marital status variable. The marital status variable was statistically significant for the total sample for both sexes. The marital status variable was statistically significant for two SES categories for females and one for males.

A Re-Evaluation of the Economic Consequences of Divorce

Over the last 20 years researchers have focused considerable attention on the economic consequences of divorce. One book Weitzmans The Divorce Revolution (1985) reports a 73 percent decline in womens standard of living after divorce and a 42 percent increase in mens standard of living. These percentages based on data from a 1977-1978 Los Angeles sample are substantially larger than those from other studies. I replicate...[this] analysis and demonstrate that the estimates reported in the book are inaccurate. This reanalysis...produces estimates of a 27 percent decline in womens standard of living and a 10 percent increase in mens after divorce. I discuss the implications of these results for debates about divorce law reform. (EXCERPT)

Women, men, and the economic consequences of divorce: Evidence from Canadian longitudinal data

Cet article présente les résultats d'une analyse empirique des conséquences économiques du divorce utilisant la banque de données Longitudinal Administrative Database (lad). Cette banque de données a été construite à partir des déclarations de revenus pour fin d'impǒt de canadiens ayant vécu un divorce. Tant la période précédent le divorce que la période měme du divorce et celle le suivant sont couvertes par la banque. Cette étude du divorce est la première au Canada à utiliser des données longitudinales; la qualité de l'échantillon tiré de la banque lad est en fait inégalée ailleurs, tant pour le nombre d'observations que pour sa représentativité. Pendant l'année suivant le divorce, le revenu familial de la femme diminue d'environ la moité alors que celui de l'homme diminue d'environ le quart. L'utilisation de ratios «revenus/besoins» afin de prendre en compte la taille de la famille indique que le bien‐ětre des hommes augmente légèrement alors que les femmes subissent une baisse de bien‐ětre d'un peu plus de 40 pour cent. Ces changements de revenus initiaux sont suivis par des augmentations modérées des revenus des hommes et des femmes dans les années suivantes. Le taux de pauvreté des femmes passe de .16 à .43 dans l'année du divorce pour ensuite décliner lentement; pour les hommes, ce taux n'augmente que légèrement suite à la séparation. Le taux d'activité des femmes ne change pas dans la période précédent le divorce mais il augmente modérément après la séparation. Le taux d'activité des hommes est, quant à lui, stable. Ces résultats ne prennent en compte ni les revenus de l'aide sociale, ni la diminution de revenus que subissent ceux qui paient une pension. Il est cependant démontré que les résultats demeureraient sensiblement les měmes si ces revenus et pensions étaient inclus. Nous discutons de l'apport de ces résultats à notre compréhension du divorce, du mariage et du modèle néo‐classique de la famille.This paper presents the results of an empirical investigation of the economic consequences of divorce which uses the recently developed Longitudinal Administrative Database (lad) constructed from Canadian tax files to track individuals leading up to, at the point of, and following marital breakup. This is the first study to use Canadian longitudinal data to address the question, while the lad‐derived sample is unequalled anywhere in terms of its size and representative nature. It is found that women's family income drops roughly one‐half, and men's declines about one quarter in the first year of divorce, while using income‐to‐needs ratios to adjust for family size indicates a smallish rise in economic well‐being for men, versus drops of just over 40 per cent for women. These initial income changes are followed by moderate rises for both men and women in the following years. Poverty rates jump from .16 to .43 for women in the year of divorce, and then drop off slowly, while for men they rise only a couple of points at the breakup. Women's labour market activity does not change in the pre‐divorce period, but increases moderately at the split, while for men it is stable throughout. These figures do not include social assistance income, nor are child support payments deducted from the payer's side, but figures are presented to show that the principal results would not change qualitatively with their inclusion. Several implications of the results for the understanding of divorce, marriage, and the standard neoclassical economics model of the family are discussed.

Economic Consequences of Divorce: The International Perspective.

In the past decade there has been a remarkable cross-national convergence in the experience, research, and reaction to the Divorce Revolution. As each country has experienced spiralling divorce rates and has adopted more liberal rules for divorce, it has begun to be concerned about the social and economic consequences of these changes. The twenty-six eminent contributors to this volume investigate how the new laws work in practice, analyze the societal effects of rapid change, and grapple with the policy implications of their results.

The economic fallout from divorce: Issues for the 1990s

Economic consequences of divorce, especially for women, are negative and persistent according to a range of research studies. The question is whether, given changing social circumstances, this negative economic fallout from divorce is likely to diminish in the 1990s and beyond. Dramatic changes suggest both reasons for optimism and pessimism. On the positive side are the trends toward more continuous labor force participation among women and smaller contemporary family sizes. Negative influences include changes in the labor market for women, continuing problems with child support compliance, the persistence of the wage gap, and the difficulties of combining parenting and employment.

Economic Consequences of Divorce or Separation Among Women in Poverty

This study, using data from the National Longitudinal Survey's Young Women Cohort, looked at characteristics of low- income women following divorce or separation. Resources and characteristics that would help explain a woman's ability to move out of poverty in the year following divorce or separation were ana- lyzed. Discriminant anal sis results indicated that the most impor- tant discriminators of w K ether or not women would move out of poverty immediately following marital disruption were current em- ployment status, job training, education, race, and presence of a child under six years old.

What are the economic consequences of divorce?

Our analysis suggests that Weitzman's finding concerning the precipitous decline in the economic status of women following divorce is likely to be incorrect. Her findings not only imply improbably large changes in income but are also inconsistent with the information she reports on changes in income and in income per capita. Corrected estimates suggest a decline in economic status of about one-third, rather than the widely cited 73 percent figure. It remains the case that the economic status of men and women diverge substantially in the years after divorce. That difference, however, is not nearly as dramatic as suggested by Weitzman's findings.