Divorce Law and Women’s Labor Supply
نویسندگان
چکیده
Divorce law changes made in the 1970s affected marital formation, dissolution, and bargaining within marriage. By altering the terms of the marital contract these legal changes impacted the incentives for women to enter and remain in the labor force. Whereas earlier work had suggested that the impact of unilateral divorce on female employment depended critically on laws governing property division, I show that these results are not robust to alternative specifications and controls. I find instead that unilateral divorce led to an increase in both married and unmarried female labor force participation, regardless of the underlying property laws. JEL Codes: D1, J1, J2, K36, N3
منابع مشابه
How important is anticipation of divorce in married women’s labor supply decisions? An intercohort comparison using NLS data
I compare two birth-cohorts of married women and find that divorce-risk plays a significantly smaller role in the recent cohort’s labor supply decision. This suggests that any decline in America’s divorce rates will not substantially reduce married women’s labor supply. 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.
متن کاملFemale Labor Supply and Divorce: New Evidence from Ireland
Female Labor Supply and Divorce: New Evidence from Ireland If participation in the labor market helps to secure women’s outside options in the case of divorce/separation, an increase in the perceived risk of marital dissolution may accelerate the increase in female labor supply. This simple prediction has been tested in the literature using time and/or spatial variation in divorce legislation (...
متن کامل1 Divorce Law and Women ’ s Labor Supply
Divorce law changes made in the 1970s affected marital formation, dissolution, and bargaining within marriage. By altering the terms of the marital contract these legal changes impacted the incentives for women to enter and remain in the labor force. Whereas earlier work had suggested that the impact of unilateral divorce on female employment depended critically on laws governing property divis...
متن کاملDivorce-Law Changes, Household Bargaining, and Married Women's Labor Supply Revisited
Divorce law changes made in the 1970s affected marital formation, dissolution, and bargaining within marriage. By altering the terms of the marital contract these legal changes impacted the incentives for women to enter and remain in the labor force. Whereas earlier work had suggested that the impact of unilateral divorce on female employment depended critically on laws governing property divis...
متن کاملEmployment and divorce among Dutch women born between 1903 and 1937
Women’s increased economic independence is often regarded as a major contributor to the rise in the divorce rate since the 1960s. The rise in female labor-force participation and educational attainment has eroded the benefits of the traditional gender division within marriage and reduced the negative financial consequences of divorce. Women’s employment may also undermine traditional marital ro...
متن کامل