Arbeitspapier

With or without you: Divorce rates and intra-household allocation of time

This paper investigates the relationship between the probability of divorce and marriage specific investments. As these investments in terms of childcare and household activities are likely to increase the marital surplus, they are consequently likely to decrease the risk of divorce. All such activities, however, are characterized by gender role bias through, for example, social norms. In periods in which married women enjoy greater outside options (e.g., by increasing their labor force participation), it is expected that households in which the husband takes on typically female chores are less likely to dissolve, while couples in which the wife takes on typically male chores are more likely to divorce. The paper tests this hypothesis using data from the National Longitudinal Survey (NLS) of Mature Women, the NLS Young Women, and the NLSY79. The prediction is strongly supported by the data with respect to older cohorts while it loses empirical relevance when tested on younger individuals. Furthermore, asymmetric effects between genders gain importance over time. Finally, an explanation for the relationship between divorce and marital investments is offered in terms of increasing intra-household time consumption complementarities. To this end, data from the American Time Use Surveys from 1965 to 2005 are studied to illustrate how time spent together by partners in the same household has become increasingly crucial in the American family.

Language: Englisch

Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 5292

Classification: Wirtschaft
Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis

Subject: marital market
leisure
time use
survival analysis
Ehe
Hausarbeit
Zeitverwendung
Kinderbetreuung
Freizeitverhalten
Scheidung
USA

Event: Geistige Schöpfung

(who): Tabasso, Domenico

Event: Veröffentlichung

(who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

(where): Bonn

(when): 2010

Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/51710

Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET

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Object type

Arbeitspapier

Associated

Tabasso, Domenico
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

Time of origin

2010

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