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Women’s employment, income and divorce in West Germany: a causal approach

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  • Daniel Brüggmann

    (Hertie School)

Abstract

In this paper, I assess the employment and income effect of divorce for women in West Germany between 2000 and 2005. With newly available administrative data that allows me to adopt a causal approach, I find strong negative employment effects with respect to marginal employment and strong positive effects with respect to regular employment. However, in sum, the overall employment rate (marginal and regular employment combined) is not affected. Furthermore, the lower the labor market attachment before separation is, the more pronounced employment effects are. In addition, I also estimate the impact of divorce on daily gross incomes. I find no convincing evidence for an income effect. I conclude that a divorce might have a pure labor supply effect only.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Brüggmann, 2020. "Women’s employment, income and divorce in West Germany: a causal approach," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 54(1), pages 1-22, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jlabrs:v:54:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1186_s12651-020-00270-0
    DOI: 10.1186/s12651-020-00270-0
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Divorce; Female employment; Propensity score matching; Difference-in-difference; Boosted regression; Principal stratification; Sample selection;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply

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