Job Displacement, Unemployment Benefits and Domestic Violence

Sonia Bhalotra, Diogo Britto, Paolo Pinotti and Breno Sampaio

No 2127, RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series from Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM)

Abstract: We estimate impacts of male job loss, female job loss, and male unemployment benefits on domestic violence in Brazil. We merge employer-employee and social welfare registers with administrative data on domestic violence cases brought to criminal courts, use of public shelters by victims, and mandatory notifications of domestic violence by health providers. Leveraging mass layoffs for identification, we first show that both male and female job loss, independently, lead to large and pervasive increases in domestic violence. Exploiting a regression discontinuity design, we then show that unemployment benefits do not reduce domestic violence while benefits are being paid, and that they lead to higher domestic violence once benefits expire. These findings can be explained by the negative income shock brought by job loss and by increased exposure of victims to perpetrators, as partners tend to spend more time together after displacement. Although unemployment benefits partially offset the income drop following job loss, they reinforce the exposure shock as they increase unemployment duration.

Keywords: : domestic violence; unemployment; mass layoffs; unemployment insurance; income shock; exposure; Brazil (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-ias and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (23)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Job Displacement, Unemployment Benefits and Domestic Violence (2021)
Working Paper: Job Displacement, Unemployment Benefits and Domestic Violence (2021)
Working Paper: Job Displacement, Unemployment Benefits and Domestic Violence (2021)
Working Paper: Job Displacement, Unemployment Benefits and Domestic Violence (2021)
Working Paper: Job Displacement, Unemployment Benefits and Domestic Violence (2021)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:crm:wpaper:2127

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