Abstract
We use longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics to assess the economic consequences of divorce and separation for the women and men involved. In contrast to previous studies focusing exclusively on those who remain unmarried, our approach integrates the probability of remarriage into the analysis and produces a much less dramatic picture of change in economic status than analyses not incorporating remarriage. However, we also find evidence of selection bias in the subgroup of women who remarry, suggesting that currently unmarried women might not improve their economic status through remarriage as much as women who have remarried.
The text of this article is only available as a PDF.
References
Bane, M.J., & Weiss, R.S. (
1980
). Alone together: the world of single-parent families
. American Demographics
, 2
, 11
–14
.Becker, G. (
1974
). A theory of marriage: part II
. Journal of Political Economy
, 82
, S11
–S26
. 10.1086/260287Danziger, S., Jakubson, G., Schwartz, S., & Smolensky, E. (
1982
). Work and welfare as determinants of female poverty and household headship
. Quarterly Journal of Economics
, 98
, 519
–534
. 10.2307/1885875DuMouchel, W., & Duncan, G.J. (
1983
). Using sample survey weights in multiple regression analyses of stratified samples
. Journal of the American Statistical Association
, 78
, 535
–543
. 10.2307/2288115Heckman, J. (
1979
). Sample selection bias as a specification error
. Econometrica
, 47
, 153
–161
. 10.2307/1912352Hoffman, S.D. (
1977
). Marital instability and the economic status of women
. Demography
, 14
, 67
–76
. 10.2307/2060455Hoffman, S.D., & Holmes, J.W. (
1976
). Husbands, wives and divorce
. In Duncan, G.J., & Morgan, J.N. (Eds.), Five thousand American families—Patterns of economic progress
. Ann Arbor, MI
: Institute for Social Research
.Hutchens, R. (
1979
). Welfare, remarriage, and marital search
. American Economic Review
, 69
, 369
–379
.Thornton, A., and W. Rodgers. 1983. Changing patterns of marriage and divorce in the United States. Appendix III, NICHD Contract No. N01-HD-02850.
Weiss, R.S. (
1984
). The impact of marital dissolution on income and consumption of single-parent households
. Journal of Marriage and the Family
, 46
, 115
–127
. 10.2307/351870Wolf, D.A. 1977. Income maintenance, labor supply, and family stability. Ph.D. diss., University of Pennsylvania.
© Population Association of America 1985
1985