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Sin City? Why is the Divorce Rate Higher in Urban Areas?

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  • Pieter A. Gautier
  • Michael Svarer
  • Coen N. Teulings

Abstract

Divorce rates are higher in cities. Based on Danish register data, this paper shows that of the marriages formed in the city, those couples who remain in the city have a 23% higher divorce rate than those who move out. In this paper, we test whether this observation is due to sorting of more stable marriages into rural areas or if there exists a causal effect of living in urban areas on marriage instability. Our identification strategy supplements the timing‐of‐events approach with an instrumental variable. Our findings suggest that the effect of living in an urban area on the divorce risks drops substantially and loses statistical significance once we address sorting.

Suggested Citation

  • Pieter A. Gautier & Michael Svarer & Coen N. Teulings, 2009. "Sin City? Why is the Divorce Rate Higher in Urban Areas?," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 111(3), pages 439-456, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:scandj:v:111:y:2009:i:3:p:439-456
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9442.2009.01571.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Peters, H Elizabeth, 1986. "Marriage and Divorce: Informational Constraints and Private Contracting," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(3), pages 437-454, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Michel Herzig, 2020. "Mediating Factors of Family Structure and Early Home-leaving: A Replication and Extension of van den Berg, Kalmijn, and Leopold (2018)," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 36(4), pages 643-674, September.
    2. Landaud, Fanny, 2021. "From employment to engagement? Stable jobs, temporary jobs, and cohabiting relationships," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    3. Allan, Rebecca & Williamson, Paul & Kulu, Hill, 2019. "Gendered mortality differentials over the rural-urban continuum: The analysis of census linked longitudinal data from England and Wales," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 68-78.
    4. Jiaping Zhang & Mingwang Cheng & Xinyu Wei & Xiaomei Gong, 2018. "Does Mobile Phone Penetration Affect Divorce Rate? Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-19, October.
    5. Errol, Zeresh & Madsen, Jakob B. & Moslehi, Solmaz, 2021. "Social disorganization theory and crime in the advanced countries: Two centuries of evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 191(C), pages 519-537.
    6. Sanna Huikari & Marko Korhonen & Mikko Puhakka, 2016. "’Til booze do us part: alcohol consumption and marital dissolution," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 831-852, September.

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