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“Til retirement do us part”? The divorce risk of seniors in France
Giulia Ferrari, Anne Solaz

##manager.scheduler.building##: Velodromo - Bocconi University
##manager.scheduler.room##: N07
Date: 2019-01-26 09:00 AM – 10:30 AM
Last modified: 2018-12-26

Abstract


The share of divorces taking place at older ages, called “gray divorces” or “silver splitters” has recently increased significantly. This increase is partly due to the huge size of the birth cohort of baby boomers but also to a steadily increase in divorce risks at older ages.
Why does divorce occur more at these ages? We investigate how retirement plays a role and may  represent a key turning point for the couple's stability. Retirement might be a particular period for couple stability as it may affect financial resources, gender norms and other life domains.
We use a recently available administrative database and implement an event study design that shows that retirement affects divorce and not that divorce affects retirement timing. Then, we used a discrete time model to study the determinants of divorce at older ages.

Our preliminary findings show almost no significant effect for man's retirement but a positive and lagged correlation between woman's retirement and divorce, especially when she retires first. Moreover, if both partners retire simultaneously their divorce risk is lower, due to a possible selection effect or to a higher assortative mating among these couples.


Keywords


divorce; retirement; senior