Weathering the storm together: Does unemployment insurance help couples avoid divorce?
Authors
Author (Corporation)
Publication date
2022
Typ of student thesis
Course of study
Collections
Type
01A - Journal article
Editors
Editor (Corporation)
Supervisor
Parent work
Journal of European Social Policy
Special issue
DOI of the original publication
Link
Series
Series number
Volume
Issue / Number
Pages / Duration
1-16
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Publisher / Publishing institution
SAGE
Place of publication / Event location
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Abstract
This study examines whether unemployment insurance benefit generosity impacts divorce, drawing on full population administrative data and a Swiss reform that reduced unemployment insurance maximum benefit duration. We assess the effect of the reform by comparing the pre- to the post-reform change in divorce rates among unemployed individuals who were affected by the reform with the change in divorce rates among a statistically balanced group of unemployed individuals who was not affected by the reform. Difference-indifferences estimates suggest that the reform caused a 2.8 percentage point increase in divorce (a 25% increase). Effects were concentrated among low-income couples (+58%) and couples with an unemployed husband (+32%) though gender differences are attributable to men’s breadwinner status. Female main breadwinners were more strongly affected (+78%) than male main breadwinners (+40%). Results confirm the ‘family stress model’ which posits that job search and financial stress cause marital conflict. Policymakers should consider a broad array of impacts, including divorce, when considering reductions in unemployment insurance generosity
Keywords
Unemployment insurance, divorce, income, unemployment benefits, family stress, quasi-experiment
Subject (DDC)
360 - Soziale Probleme, Sozialdienste, Versicherungen
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ISBN
ISSN
1461-7269
0958-9287
0958-9287
Language
English
Created during FHNW affiliation
Yes
Strategic action fields FHNW
Publication status
Preprint
Review
Peer review of the complete publication
Open access category
Hybrid
Citation
KESSLER, Dorian, Debora HEVENSTONE, Leen VANDECASTEELE und Samin SEPAHNIYA, 2022. Weathering the storm together: Does unemployment insurance help couples avoid divorce? Journal of European Social Policy. 2022. S. 1–16. DOI 10.1177/09589287221141363. Verfügbar unter: https://doi.org/10.26041/fhnw-4591