Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Publication Date
5-1-2011
Publication Title
American Economic Review
Abstract
We investigate the effect of house price changes on divorce using data for 1991-2010 from the Current Population Survey and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Our findings suggest that changing house prices significantly affect the share of a cohort that is divorced, and that these effects are asymmetric with respect to housing gains versus losses. In addition, we find differential effects for groups that are more likely to be homeowners versus renters. Some of this evidence is consistent with homeowners being locked into their homes-and hence marriages-by increased transactions costs in down markets.
Volume
101
Issue
3
First Page
615
Last Page
619
DOI
10.1257/aer.101.3.615
ISSN
00028282
Recommended Citation
Farnham, Martin; Schmidt, Lucie; and Sevak, Purvi, "House Prices and Marital Stability" (2011). Economics: Faculty Publications, Smith College, Northampton, MA.
https://scholarworks.smith.edu/eco_facpubs/86
Comments
Peer reviewed accepted manuscript.