All the Single Ladies: Job Promotions and the Durability of Marriage

We study how promotions to top jobs affect the probability of divorce. We compare the relationship trajectories of winning and losing candidates for mayor and parliamentarian and find that a promotion to one of these jobs doubles the baseline probability of divorce for women, but not for men. We als...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American economic journal. Applied economics 2020-01, Vol.12 (1), p.260-287
Main Authors: Folke, Olle, Rickne, Johanna
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:We study how promotions to top jobs affect the probability of divorce. We compare the relationship trajectories of winning and losing candidates for mayor and parliamentarian and find that a promotion to one of these jobs doubles the baseline probability of divorce for women, but not for men. We also find a widening gender gap in divorce rates for men and women after being promoted to CEO. An analysis of possible mechanisms shows that divorces are concentrated in more gender-traditional couples, while women in more gender-equal couples are unaffected.
ISSN:1945-7782
1945-7790
1945-7790
DOI:10.1257/app.20180435