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Marital Histories and Economic Well-Being

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  • Julie Zissimopoulos
  • Benjamin R. Karney
  • Amy Rauer

Abstract

Using panel data from the Health and Retirement Study the authors analyze the impact of a lifetime of marriage events on wealth levels near retirement. They find that unmarried widowed and divorced men and remarried men with more than one past marital disruption have lower housing wealth than continuously married men and women. Both financial and housing wealth are lower for the same marital categories of women. Each year spent married increases wealth by 4 percent. Observable differences in lifetime earnings, pension and Social Security wealth are not enough to explain the large differences in wealth accumulation across marital groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Julie Zissimopoulos & Benjamin R. Karney & Amy Rauer, 2008. "Marital Histories and Economic Well-Being," Working Papers WR-645, RAND Corporation.
    • Handle: RePEc:ran:wpaper:wr-645
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    8. Steven F. Venti & David A. Wise, 2001. "Choice, Chance, and Wealth Dispersion at Retirement," NBER Chapters, in: Aging Issues in the United States and Japan, pages 25-64, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. Lillard, L.A. & Waite, L.J., 1996. "Marital Disruption and Mortality," Papers 96-01, RAND - Reprint Series.
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    11. Karen E. Dynan, 1993. "How prudent are consumers?," Working Paper Series / Economic Activity Section 135, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
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    Cited by:

    1. Bertocchi, Graziella & Brunetti, Marianna & Torricelli, Costanza, 2011. "Marriage and other risky assets: A portfolio approach," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(11), pages 2902-2915, November.
    2. Angela Hung & Joanne Yoong & Elizabeth Brown, 2012. "Empowering Women Through Financial Awareness and Education," OECD Working Papers on Finance, Insurance and Private Pensions 14, OECD Publishing.
    3. Bahovec Vlasta & Barbić Dajana & Palić Irena, 2017. "The Regression Analysis of Individual Financial Performance: Evidence from Croatia," Business Systems Research, Sciendo, vol. 8(2), pages 1-13, September.
    4. Sholevar, Maryam & Harris, Laurence, 2019. "Mind the gap: A discussion paper on Financial Literacy, Financial behaviour and Financial Education : Is there any Gender Gap?," OSF Preprints b7zd6, Center for Open Science.
    5. Negrusa, Brighita & Oreffice, Sonia, 2010. "Sexual Orientation and Household Savings: Do Homosexual Couples Save More?," IZA Discussion Papers 4961, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    6. Łukasz Kurowski, 2021. "Household’s Overindebtedness during the COVID-19 Crisis: The Role of Debt and Financial Literacy," Risks, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-19, March.
    7. Tracey West & Elizabeth Mitchell, 2022. "Australian women with good financial knowledge fare better in divorce," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 47(2), pages 203-224, May.
    8. David W. Eccles & Paul Ward & Elizabeth Goldsmith & Guler Arsal, 2013. "The Relationship between Retirement Wealth and Householders' Lifetime Personal Financial and Investing Behaviors," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(3), pages 432-464, November.

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