This article provides evidence for Colombia on the economic consequences of union dissolution, divorce, and the breakup of cohabiting unions, using three waves (2010, 2013, and 2016) of a nationally representative longitudinal survey. We estimate individual fixed‑effects models with...

This paper examines how personality shapes intra-household bargaining, marital stability, and the allocation of resources within marriages. We use rich data from the HILDA Survey that combines information on spouses' personalities, wages, time use, and marital histories. In the data, personality...

Can legal reforms shift social norms around intimate partner violence (IPV)? We examine Vietnam's 2007 Law on Domestic Violence Prevention and Control using a difference-in-differences strategy that leverages the greater relevance of legal protections for married and cohabiting women relative to...

We study the role of gender role attitudes (GRA)—beliefs about appropriate roles for men and women—in marital sorting and intra-household allocations. Using the UK Household Longitudinal Study and a multidimensional matching model, we estimate the contribution of GRA to the joint marriage...

A comprehensive understanding of the determinants of sexual violence constitutes a crucial step toward effective prevention. While there is much research on the role of socio-economic circumstances of both victims acund perpetrators, little is known about whether an individual's physical...

In this paper, we estimate the causal effect of social security income on mental health. We focus on widowhood, a life event associated with large and persistent mental health declines, and exploit a reform of the Dutch survivor benefits system that introduced cohort-based restrictions in...

I document a sudden, sharp and historically unprecedented decline in self-reported happiness in the US population. It occurred during 2020, the year of the Covid pandemic, and mainly persists through 2024. This happiness crash spread across nearly all typical demographics and geographies. The...

We study the role of Gender Role Attitudes (GRA) - beliefs about appropriate roles for men and women - in marital sorting and intra-household allocations. Using the UK Household Longitudinal Study and a multidimensional matching model following Dupuy and Galichon (2014), we estimate the...

There is continued debate, with important social consequences, about how social status is transmitted between parents and children. In particular, how much does genetics as opposed to social causation matter? In an ingenious recent article, Collado et al. (2023), using an extended family lineage...

This paper quantifies the contributions of social norms and economic incentives to the 350-hour annual gap in maternal labor supply between East and West Germany. Using a collective model of family formation and labor supply estimated on GSOEP data from 2000-2017, we find that the working-mother...

This paper quantifies the contributions of social norms and economic incentives to the 350-hour annual gap in maternal labor supply between East and West Germany. Using a collective model of family formation and labor supply estimated on GSOEP data from 2000-2017, we find that the working-mother...

This paper examines the impact of prohibiting the Islamic veil in schools on economic outcomes and long-run integration of Muslim women. Using a difference-in-differences design, I show that the 1994 directive instructing school principals to ban the veil in French schools led to a substantial...

Household composition in the United States is increasingly diverse; however, research into the diversity of the financial decision maker's sexual orientation has yet to be explored. This analysis examines whether there are differences in financial risk tolerance between same-sex and different-sex...

We develop a model that links education-outcome gradients to intergenerational transmission, distinguishing joint from parent-specific channels under assortative mating. Using Danish administrative data on family quartets, we estimate the own education-outcome gradient and, in addition,...

Accurate measurement of intimate partner violence is challenging in face-to-face interviews due to concerns about anonymity and privacy, which can deter disclosure. In settings with high illiteracy, self-administered surveys are also impractical. To tackle these issues, this study adapted...

This work examines the effect of next-generation broadband on marriage rates among opposite- and same-sex couples in Spain. Given that the decision to sustain a relationship and enter into marriage is influenced by a broad spectrum of opportunities, high-speed broadband access can play a pivotal...

Due to a lack of attention in research to draw a connection between couple businesses and their existence as a form of startup teams, this paper aims to provide deeper insights into the structure and behavior of copreneurial couples in startups. This lack needs to be addressed due to the...

This paper investigates how a change in marital status can influence labour market-related child penalties, by comparing married couples and those whose marriage is dissolved after the birth of their first child. We take advantage of the rich administrative data from New Zealand and show that...

Many nations have experienced both rising education levels and declining marriage rates. However, cross-sectional comparisons within countries often indicate that more highly educated individuals are more likely to be married. Economic theory suggests ambiguous causal effects of education on...

This paper studies how family and firm investments interact to explain gender gaps in career achievement. Using Danish administrative data, we first document novel evidence of this interaction through a “spousal effect” on firm-side career investments. This effect is accounted for by family...

This study evaluates the impact of an intimate partner violence prevention program in Rwanda, using a randomized controlled trial. The 22-week couples training program aimed to improve communication, shift gender attitudes, and promote gender equality. Randomizing at both the village and couple...

Can lowering barriers to public services reduce domestic violence? Exploiting the introduction of a non-mandatory police reporting policy, I find that it significantly reduces domestic violence cases reported to the police while increasing hospital-reported cases of domestic assault. I further...

Families play an important role in providing insurance against adverse shocks, but little is known about how shocks affect the family structure itself. We study the impact of a labor market shock on divorce and intra-household allocation of resources, exploiting a naturalexperimental earthquake...

Economic inequality remains a persistent and widely studied issue in the social sciences. South Korea provides a striking example where the top 23 business groups, controlled by ultra-wealthy, family-owned conglomerates (chaebols), have maintained significant economic persistence and resisted...

Since 1972, the General Social Survey has periodically asked whether people are happy with Yes, Maybe or No type answers. Here I use a net "happiness" measure, which is percentage Yes less percentage No with Maybe treated as zero. Average happiness is around +20 on this scale for all respondents...

An often neglected implication of couple taxation is its impact on marital sorting. A tractable model of such an impact is offered in this paper. It reveals that, as compared to joint taxation with income splitting, individual taxation makes higher-ability individuals more picky in the marriage...

This paper studies how family and firm investments interact to explain gender gaps in career achievement. Using Danish administrative data, we first document novel evidence of this interaction through a "spousal effect" on firm-side career investments. This effect is accounted for by family...