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Does divorce risk depend on spouses´ relative income? A register-based study of first marriages in Sweden in 1981–1998

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  • Guiping Liu

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

  • Andres Vikat

    (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany)

Abstract

The relationship between increasing women’s earnings and rising divorce rates frequently has been explained by the so-called independence effect: If a wife enjoys a higher earning than her husband does, she gains less from marriage. It has also been argued that in a society with egalitarian gender attitudes this effect is less important. In this paper, we test if the independence effect applies to Sweden, a country in which egalitarian gender views dominate and female labor-force participation and divorce rates are high. Our analysis is based on a large register data set and intensity regression models. We found support for the ‘independence effect’: The linear relationship between the share of a wife’s income and the divorce risk is positive. We also found that the higher the total income of the couple, the lower their divorce risk, but this relationship appears to be less strong.

Suggested Citation

  • Guiping Liu & Andres Vikat, 2004. "Does divorce risk depend on spouses´ relative income? A register-based study of first marriages in Sweden in 1981–1998," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2004-010, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2004-010
    DOI: 10.4054/MPIDR-WP-2004-010
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Johnson, William R & Skinner, Jonathan, 1986. "Labor Supply and Marital Separation," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(3), pages 455-469, June.
    2. Lee Lillard & Linda Waite, 1993. "A joint model of marital childbearing and marital disruption," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 30(4), pages 653-681, November.
    3. Henz, Ursula & Sundström, Marianne, 2001. "Partner Choice and Women's Paid Work in Sweden - The Role of Earnings," Working Paper Series 1/2000, Stockholm University, Swedish Institute for Social Research.
    4. Gunnar Andersson, 1997. "The Impact of Children on Divorce Risks of Swedish Women," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 13(2), pages 109-145, June.
    5. Guiping Liu, 2002. "How premarital children and childbearing in current marriage influence divorce of Swedish women in their first marriages," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 7(10), pages 389-406.
    6. Marika Jalovaara, 2003. "The joint effects of marriage partners’ socioeconomic positions on the risk of divorce," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 40(1), pages 67-81, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Quentin Lippmann & Alexandre Georgieff & Claudia Senik, 2020. "Undoing Gender with Institutions: Lessons from the German Division and Reunification," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 130(629), pages 1445-1470.
    2. Daniel Avdic & Arizo Karimi, 2018. "Modern Family? Paternity Leave and Marital Stability," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 283-307, October.
    3. Marianne Bertrand & Emir Kamenica & Jessica Pan, 2015. "Gender Identity and Relative Income within Households," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 130(2), pages 571-614.
    4. Kraft, Kornelius & Neimann, Stefanie, 2009. "Effect of Labor Division between Wife and Husband on the Risk of Divorce: Evidence from German Data," IZA Discussion Papers 4515, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Quentin Lippmann & Alexandre Georgieff & Claudia Senik, 2019. "Undoing Gender with Institutions. Lessons from the German Division and Reunification," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1031, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    6. Miia Bask, 2010. "Increasing Inequality in Social Exclusion Occurrence: The Case of Sweden During 1979–2003," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 97(3), pages 299-323, July.
    7. Gunnar Andersson & Turid Noack & Ane Seierstad & Harald Weedon-Fekjær, 2006. "The demographics of same-sex marriages in Norway and Sweden," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 43(1), pages 79-98, February.
    8. Daniele Vignoli & Irene Ferro, 2009. "Rising marital disruption in Italy and its correlates," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 20(4), pages 11-36.
    9. Marika Jalovaara, 2013. "Socioeconomic Resources and the Dissolution of Cohabitations and Marriages [Ressources socio-économiques et dissolution des cohabitations et des mariages]," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 29(2), pages 167-193, May.
    10. Matthijs Kalmijn & Anneke Loeve & Dorien Manting, 2007. "Income dynamics in couples and the dissolution of marriage and cohabitation," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 44(1), pages 159-179, February.
    11. Karin Böttcher, 2006. "Scheidung in Ost- und Westdeutschland: der Einfluss der Frauenerwerbstätigkeit auf die Ehestabilität," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2006-016, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sweden; divorce; family dynamics; income; marriage;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

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