Gendered Wealth Trajectories across Union Dissolution

Mathis Sansu , French Institute of Demographic Studies (INED)
Marion Leturcq, French Institute for Demographic Studies
Simon Rabaté, French Institute for Demographic Studies

Adverse life events, such as union dissolution, can lead to an exacerbation of socio-economic inequalities. Although it is documented that wealth can act as a buffer, quantitative evidence on wealth trajectories following union dissolution is lacking. As former partners may unequally redistribute assets and liabilities, union dissolution may be a key moment in life course wealth accumulation. Using Dutch register data, we provide estimates of the short-term effect of union dissolution on net per capita wealth trajectories using a stacked event study design. After union dissolution, women's wealth decreases while men's wealth increases. The mechanisms underlying these trends are opposite: men have an increase in per capita liabilities but an even larger increase in per capita assets, while women's decrease in assets is larger than their decrease in liabilities. Gender inequalities are mostly imputable to differences in housing assets and liabilities (mortgage), and substantial ownership in the aftermath of union dissolution. Finally, we discuss the existence of recovery channels, namely inter vivos gifts, which act as informal insurance for a specific subpopulation, and repartnering. For women, these recovery channels mitigate the negative and long-lasting effects of union dissolution on their wealth trajectories.

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 Presented in Session 32. Flash Session Gender, Work and Labour Market