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Till Death Do Us Part or I Get My Pension? Wives' Pension Holding and Marital Dissolution in the United States
Author(s) -
Ono Hiromi,
Stafford Frank
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.725
H-Index - 64
eISSN - 1467-9442
pISSN - 0347-0520
DOI - 10.1111/1467-9442.00258
Subject(s) - independence (probability theory) , pension , economics , marital status , demographic economics , simultaneous equations model , panel data , probit model , labour economics , econometrics , sociology , demography , finance , mathematics , population , statistics
Wives' financial independence gained from their pension may increase the risk of marital dissolution, especially when wives are approaching retirement age (the older wives' independence hypothesis). Applying single and simultaneous equations probit models to data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we investigate the effect of wives' pension holding in 1984 on the risk of subsequent marital dissolution. Results from the single equation model appear to support the older wives' independence hypothesis. However, results from the simultaneous equations model suggest that interpreting the single equation results as a sign of older wives' economic independence may be misleading. JEL classification : C 33; D 31; J 12; J 32