Reconciling macro-and microlevel findings on the unemployment-divorce nexus
Dates:
- Tue 05 Nov 2019 13.00 - 15.00
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2019-11-05 13:00
2019-11-05 15:00
Europe/Paris
Reconciling macro-and microlevel findings on the unemployment-divorce nexus
A talk within the Inequality Working Group The empirical evidence relating unemployment to divorce is inconclusive, as micro- and macrolevel studies find opposite associations. One possible explanation is that, besides the macro-level business cycle and the micro-level individual unemployment, there are environmental effects at play. For instance, Charles and Stephens (2004) found that divorce hazards increased following individual layoffs, but not after plant closings. Since the latter affects not only the individual households, but their peer- or reference group as well, spouses might be less likely to divorce an unemployed partner. On the other hand, in an environment with low unemployment, individual job loss might increase its signalling function. This notion of micro- and macro-level linkages has recently gained attention in the field of ‘happiness economics’. The association between unemployment and life satisfaction was found to be greater at the macro-level than one would expect from aggregating micro-econometric effects. One possible explanation is that there are societal multipliers at work (Clark, Knabe, & Rätzel, 2010). I aim to use the same vantage point to study unemployment and relationship dissolution.
Seminar Room 4 - Badia Fiesolana
DD/MM/YYYY
Seminar Room 4 - Badia Fiesolana
A talk within the Inequality Working Group The empirical evidence relating unemployment to divorce is inconclusive, as micro- and macrolevel studies find opposite associations. One possible explanation is that, besides the macro-level business cycle and the micro-level individual unemployment, there are environmental effects at play. For instance, Charles and Stephens (2004) found that divorce hazards increased following individual layoffs, but not after plant closings. Since the latter affects not only the individual households, but their peer- or reference group as well, spouses might be less likely to divorce an unemployed partner. On the other hand, in an environment with low unemployment, individual job loss might increase its signalling function. This notion of micro- and macro-level linkages has recently gained attention in the field of ‘happiness economics’. The association between unemployment and life satisfaction was found to be greater at the macro-level than one would expect from aggregating micro-econometric effects. One possible explanation is that there are societal multipliers at work (Clark, Knabe, & Rätzel, 2010). I aim to use the same vantage point to study unemployment and relationship dissolution.
- Location:
- Seminar Room 4 - Badia Fiesolana
- Affiliation:
- Department of Political and Social Sciences
- Type:
- Working group
- Organiser:
-
Prof. Juho Härkönen
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Prof. Fabrizio Bernardi
- Contact:
-
Monika Rzemieniecka (EUI - Department of Political and Social Sciences)
-
Send a mail
- Speaker:
-
Gert Thielemans (University of Antwerp)
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