You can’t be happier than your wife. Happiness gaps and divorce

Cahit Guven (), Claudia Senik () and Holger Stichnoth

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2012, vol. 82, issue 1, 110-130

Abstract: Based on three large panel surveys, this paper shows that happiness gaps between spouses are a good predictor of future divorce. The effect of happiness gaps is asymmetric: couples are more likely to break-up when the woman is the less happy partner. De facto, divorces appear to be initiated predominantly by women who are less happy than their husband. This asymmetry suggests that the effect of happiness gaps is grounded on motives of relative deprivation (i.e. comparisons of happiness between spouses) rather than on a preference for equal happiness.

Keywords: Happiness; Divorce; Comparisons; Panel; Households; Marriage (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D13 D63 D64 H31 I31 J12 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (28)

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Related works:
Working Paper: You can't be happier than your wife. Happiness gaps and divorce (2012)
Working Paper: You can't be happier than your wife. Happiness gaps and divorce (2012)
Working Paper: You can't be happier than your wife. Happiness Gaps and Divorce (2011)
Working Paper: You can't be happier than your wife. Happiness Gaps and Divorce (2011)
Working Paper: You Can't Be Happier Than Your Wife: Happiness Gaps and Divorce (2010)
Working Paper: You can't be happier than your wife: happiness gaps and divorce (2010)
Working Paper: You can't be happier than your wife. Happiness gaps and divorce (2009)
Working Paper: You Can't Be Happier than Your Wife: Happiness Gaps and Divorce (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:82:y:2012:i:1:p:110-130

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2012.01.003

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