Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/263488 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 15272
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
A significant literature in the social sciences addresses the impact of child-bearing and rearing on marital stability and on mothers' labour market outcomes. Much less is known about older mothers' employment and marriage patterns when the adult children leave the parental nest. This study aims to shed light on these issues using longitudinal labour force data for France. Exploiting retirement laws for identification purposes, and taking a regression discontinuity approach, we find that older women's retirement probability is positively associated with an empty nest. We also conclude that an empty nest is negatively associated with older mothers' marriage probability. There is scope for better targeting of both family and retirement policies for older mothers during those critical years when adult children leave the parental nest.
Subjects: 
retirement
ageing
divorce
JEL: 
J12
J14
J22
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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