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The Effect of Unemployment on Social Participation of Spouses: Evidence from Plant Closures in Germany

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  • Lars Kunze
  • Nicolai Suppa

Abstract

This paper estimates the effect of an individual’s unemployment on the level of social participation of their spouse. Using German panel data, it is shown that unemployment has a strong negative effect on public social activities of both directly and indirectly affected spouses. Private social activities of either spouse, however, are only found to increase, if the indirectly affected spouse is not working. Conflict prevention strategies or habituation may help to rationalise this finding. Our results imply that active labour market policies should account for spillovers effects within couples and adopt a family perspective.

Suggested Citation

  • Lars Kunze & Nicolai Suppa, 2017. "The Effect of Unemployment on Social Participation of Spouses: Evidence from Plant Closures in Germany," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 898, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    • Handle: RePEc:diw:diwsop:diw_sp898
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    Cited by:

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    2. Everding, Jakob & Marcus, Jan, 2020. "The effect of unemployment on the smoking behavior of couples," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 29(2), pages 154-170.
    3. Miele, Kai R., 2024. "Mental Health and Labor Market Effects of Anticipating Job Loss," CINCH Working Paper Series (since 2020) 82169, Duisburg-Essen University Library, DuEPublico.
    4. Nikolova, Milena, 2019. "Switching to self-employment can be good for your health," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 664-691.
    5. Suppa, Nicolai, 2021. "Unemployment and subjective well-being," GLO Discussion Paper Series 760, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    6. Lars Kunze & Nicolai Suppa, 2020. "Who Is Bowling Alone? Quantile Treatment Effects of Unemployment on Social Participation," SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research 1077, DIW Berlin, The German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP).
    7. Kadir Atalay & Garry Barrett, 2022. "Retirement routes and the well-being of retirees," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(5), pages 2751-2784, November.
    8. Nikolova, Milena, 2018. "Self-Employment Can Be Good for Your Health," GLO Discussion Paper Series 226, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment; social participation; plant closure; entropy balancing; SOEP;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being

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