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Assortative Mating and Divorce: Evidence from Austrian Register Data

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  • Wolfgang Frimmel
  • Martin Halla
  • Rudolf Winter-Ebmer

Abstract

This paper documents that changes in assortative mating patterns over the last four decades along the dimensions of age, ethnicity, religion and education are not responsible for the increasing marital instability in Austria. Quite the contrary, without the rise in the age at marriage, divorce rates would be considerably higher. Immigration and secularization, and the resulting supply of spouses with diverse ethnicity and religious denominations had no overall effect on divorce rates. Countervailing effects – in line with theoretical predictions – offset each other. The rise in the incidence in divorce is most probably caused by changing social norms.

Suggested Citation

  • Wolfgang Frimmel & Martin Halla & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2009. "Assortative Mating and Divorce: Evidence from Austrian Register Data," Economics working papers 2009-10, Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria.
    • Handle: RePEc:jku:econwp:2009_10
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    Cited by:

    1. Guven, Cahit & Senik, Claudia & Stichnoth, Holger, 2012. "You can’t be happier than your wife. Happiness gaps and divorce," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(1), pages 110-130.
    2. Frimmel, Wolfgang & Halla, Martin & Winter-Ebmer, Rudolf, 2024. "How does parental divorce affect children’s long-term outcomes?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 239(C).
    3. Dávid Erát, 2021. "Educational assortative mating and the decline of hypergamy in 27 European countries: An examination of trends through cohorts," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 44(7), pages 157-188.
    4. Jennifer Roff, 2017. "Cleaning in the Shadow of the Law? Bargaining, Marital Investment, and the Impact of Divorce Law on Husbands' Intrahousehold Work," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 60(1), pages 115-134.
    5. David M. Wright & Michael Rosato & Dermot O’Reilly, 2017. "Influence of Heterogamy by Religion on Risk of Marital Dissolution: A Cohort Study of 20,000 Couples," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 33(1), pages 87-107, February.
    6. Wolfgang Frimmel & Martin Halla & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2014. "Can Pro-Marriage Policies Work? An Analysis of Marginal Marriages," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 51(4), pages 1357-1379, August.
    7. Franz Hackl & Martin Halla & Michael Hummer & Gerald J. Pruckner, 2015. "The Effectiveness of Health Screening," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(8), pages 913-935, August.
    8. Laura Bottazzi & Paolo Manasse & Sarah Grace See, 2017. "Better Wed Over the Mixen Than Over The Moon? Break-ups of Inter-ethnic Marriages in Italy," Carlo Alberto Notebooks 499, Collegio Carlo Alberto.
    9. Ho-Po Crystal Wong, 2014. "The Effects of Endogamous Marriage on Family Outcomes: Evidence from Exogenous Variation in Immigrant Flows During 1900-1930 in the United States," Working Papers 14-31, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    10. Ho-Po Crystal Wong, 2016. "Ethnic assortative matching in marriage and family outcomes: evidence from the mass migration to the US during 1900–1930," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 29(3), pages 817-848, July.
    11. Flip Klijn & Markus Walzl & Christopher Kah, 2021. "Almost mutually best in matching markets: rank gaps and size of the core," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 57(4), pages 797-816, November.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Assortative mating; divorce; marital instability; immigration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • Z12 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Religion
    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • R2 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis

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