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Is Marriage Protecting your Health in Recession Times?

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  • Joan Gil

Abstract

This paper aims to contribute to the literature on the protective effects of marriage on individuals' health by examining whether this advantage is still valid in recession times. A two stage empirical strategy is followed based on individual-level cross-section data for Spain. Using propensity score matching techniques we firstly estimate the causal impact of divorce and legal separation (marital dissolution) on mental health and binge drinking in two different points in time: before and during the economic crisis. Secondly, we examine whether there exists an incremental or detrimental effect on these health outcomes implied by the economic recession using differencein-difference (DiD) regression methods, upon conditioning on a proxy of innate health status.

Suggested Citation

  • Joan Gil, 2016. "Is Marriage Protecting your Health in Recession Times?," Studies on the Spanish Economy eee2016-19, FEDEA.
    • Handle: RePEc:fda:fdaeee:eee2016-19
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Nezih Guner & Yuliya Kulikova & Joan Llull, 2014. "Does Marriage Make You Healthier?," Working Papers 795, Barcelona School of Economics.
    2. John Murray, 2000. "Marital protection and marital selection: Evidence from a historical-prospective sample of American men," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 37(4), pages 511-521, November.
    3. Linda Waite, 1995. "Does marriage matter?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 32(4), pages 483-507, November.
    4. Alberto Abadie & David Drukker & Jane Leber Herr & Guido W. Imbens, 2004. "Implementing matching estimators for average treatment effects in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 4(3), pages 290-311, September.
    5. Ruhm, Christopher J. & Black, William E., 2002. "Does drinking really decrease in bad times?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 659-678, July.
    6. Theodore W. Schultz, 1974. "Economics of the Family: Marriage, Children, and Human Capital," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number schu74-1.
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    8. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2000. "Are Recessions Good for Your Health?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(2), pages 617-650.
    9. Wilson, Chris M. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2005. "How Does Marriage Affect Physical and Psychological Health? A Survey of the Longitudinal Evidence," Economic Research Papers 269622, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure

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