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Divorcing Upon Retirement: A Regression Discontinuity Study

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  • Stancanelli, Elena G. F.

    (Paris School of Economics)

Abstract

The many facets of retirement have been studied widely by economists. However, the effect of retirement on marriage stability has been ignored in the literature. Retirement represents a dramatic change in individual time allocation that may affect marriage stability. In particular, individuals that grew up in traditional households in which the father did little domestic work and both spouses worked very long hours such as farmer household may find their marriage especially proven by the transition into retirement. We study the effect of retirement on marriage outburst rates using observations on over 200 000 French men and over 166 000 French women aged 50 to 70, drawn from the French Labor Force Surveys over the period 1990 to 2002. Due to reverse causality concerns, we instrument retirement in our divorce model by exploiting legal retirement age in France and applying a regression discontinuity approach. We find a significant increase in divorce rates which soar and almost double upon retirement for individuals of either gender that grew up in a traditional family environment such as a farmer household.

Suggested Citation

  • Stancanelli, Elena G. F., 2014. "Divorcing Upon Retirement: A Regression Discontinuity Study," IZA Discussion Papers 8117, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp8117
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    Cited by:

    1. Kolodziej, Ingo W.K. & García-Gómez, Pilar, 2019. "Saved by retirement: Beyond the mean effect on mental health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 225(C), pages 85-97.
    2. Heller-Sahlgren, Gabriel, 2017. "Retirement blues," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 66-78.
    3. Bertoni, Marco & Brunello, Giorgio, 2014. "Pappa Ante Portas: The Retired Husband Syndrome in Japan," IZA Discussion Papers 8350, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Bertoni, Marco & Brunello, Giorgio, 2017. "Pappa Ante Portas: The effect of the husband's retirement on the wife's mental health in Japan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 135-142.
    5. Ciani, Emanuele, 2016. "Retirement, pension eligibility and home production," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 106-120.
    6. Peter Eibich, 2014. "Understanding the Effect of Retirement on Health Using Regression Discontinuity Design," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 669, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    7. Zang, Emma, 2020. "Spillover effects of a husband's retirement on a woman's health: Evidence from urban China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    8. Chen, Xi, 2022. "The impact of spousal and own retirement on health: Evidence from urban China," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    9. Eibich, Peter, 2015. "Understanding the effect of retirement on health: Mechanisms and heterogeneity," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 1-12.
    10. Léa Cimelli & Carole Bonnet & Anne Solaz, 2024. "Do late-life divorces produce greater gender inequalities? Evidence from administrative data," Working Papers 292, French Institute for Demographic Studies.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    ageing; retirement; regression discontinuity;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J14 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of the Elderly; Economics of the Handicapped; Non-Labor Market Discrimination
    • C1 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General
    • C36 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Instrumental Variables (IV) Estimation

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