The Effects of Household Income Volatility on Divorce.

This paper extends empirical research on marital instability in two dimensions. First, I examine the effects of household income volatility on divorce. Second, I examine the effects of household income volatility on the divorce behavior of lower- and higher household income individuals. The results indicate that increases in household income volatility raise the probability of divorce for men, regardless of whether the household income shocks are positive or negative. For women, the effect is not consistent across different household income volatility measures; however, the preferred model specification suggests that only negative shocks raise the risk of divorce.