Assortative Mating and Divorce: Evidence from Austrian Register Data

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Abstract

This paper documents that changes in assortative mating patterns over the last four decades along the dimensions of age, ethnicity, religion and education are not responsible for the increasing marital instability in Austria. Quite the contrary, without the rise in the age at marriage, divorce rates would be considerably higher. Immigration and secularization, and the resulting supply of spouses with diverse ethnicity and religious denominations had no overall effect on divorce rates. Countervailing effects – in line with theoretical predictions – offset each other. The rise in the incidence in divorce is most probably caused by changing social norms.
Original languageEnglish
Number of pages29
JournalJournal of the Royal Statistical Society, Series A (Statistics in Society)
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2012

Fields of science

  • 405002 Agricultural economics
  • 502 Economics
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JKU Focus areas

  • Social Systems, Markets and Welfare States
  • Social and Economic Sciences (in general)

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