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Insult to Injury: Disability, Earnings, and Divorce

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  • Perry Singleton

Abstract

This study examines the effect of work-limiting disabilities on the likelihood of divorce. Theoretically, the effect depends on the disability hazard at the time of onset and the impact of disability on marital value. The theory therefore implies, based on a set of empirically supported premises, that the effect of disability on divorce should decrease with age, increase with education, and increase with disability severity. Data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation support these predictions. The effect of a work-preventing disability is greatest among young, educated males, increasing the divorce hazard by 13.3 percentage points.

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  • Perry Singleton, 2009. "Insult to Injury: Disability, Earnings, and Divorce," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2009-25, Center for Retirement Research, revised Nov 2009.
    • Handle: RePEc:crr:crrwps:wp2009-25
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    Cited by:

    1. Stijn Baert, 2016. "Wage subsidies and hiring chances for the disabled: some causal evidence," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 17(1), pages 71-86, January.
    2. Melissa Ruby Banzhaf, 2018. "When It Rains, It Pours: Under What Circumstances Does Job Loss Lead to Divorce," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 85(2), pages 349-377, October.
    3. Melissa Ruby Banzhaf, 2013. "When It Rains It Pours: Under What Circumstances Does Job Loss Lead to Divorce," Working Papers 13-62, Center for Economic Studies, U.S. Census Bureau.
    4. Bruce Meyer & Wallace K. C. Mok, 2016. "Disability, Earnings, Income and Consumption," NBER Chapters, in: Social Insurance Programs (Trans-Atlantic Public Economics Seminar, TAPES), National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Laura Turner & Aloysius Siow & Gueorgui Kambourov, 2014. "Relationship Skills in the Labor and Marriage Markets," 2014 Meeting Papers 155, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    6. Jones, Melanie K. & Mavromaras, Kostas & Sloane, Peter J. & Wei, Zhang, 2015. "The Dynamic Effect of Disability on Work and Subjective Wellbeing in Australia," IZA Discussion Papers 9609, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Christine Fekete & Mohit Arora & Jan D. Reinhardt & Mirja Gross-Hemmi & Athanasios Kyriakides & Marc Le Fort & Julia Patrick Engkasan & Hannah Tough, 2020. "Partnership Status and Living Situation in Persons Experiencing Physical Disability in 22 Countries: Are There Patterns According to Individual and Country-Level Characteristics?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(19), pages 1-11, September.
    8. Meyer, Bruce D. & Mok, Wallace K.C., 2019. "Disability, earnings, income and consumption," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 171(C), pages 51-69.
    9. Kenneth Couch & Christopher Tamborini & Gayle Reznik, 2015. "The Long-Term Health Implications of Marital Disruption: Divorce, Work Limits, and Social Security Disability Benefits Among Men," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 52(5), pages 1487-1512, October.
    10. Singleton, Perry, 2014. "The dynamic relationship between disability onset, earnings, and disability insurance application and receipt," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 124(3), pages 374-377.
    11. Nancy Reichman & Hope Corman & Kelly Noonan, 2015. "Effects of maternal depression on couple relationship status," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 13(4), pages 929-973, December.
    12. Hellerstein Judith K & Morrill Melinda Sandler, 2011. "Booms, Busts, and Divorce," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-28, August.
    13. Glenn Sandström & Fredinah Namatovu & Jens Ineland & Daniel Larsson & Nawi Ng & Mikael Stattin, 2021. "The Persistence of High Levels of Living Alone Among Adults with Disabilities in Sweden, 1993–2011," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 40(2), pages 163-185, April.
    14. Perry Singleton & Ling Li, 2016. "The Dynamic Effect of Disability on Marriage: Evidence from the Social Security Disability Insurance Program," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 190, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University.

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