Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/170848 
Year of Publication: 
2017
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 10864
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The 2008 alimony reform in Germany considerably reduced post-marital and caregiver alimony. We analyze how individuals adapted to these changed rulings in terms of labor supply, the intra-household allocation of leisure, and marital stability. We use the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and conduct a difference-in-difference analysis to investigate couples' behavioral responses to the reform. The results do not confirm theoretical expectations from labor supply and household bargaining models. In particular, we do not find evidence that women increase their labor supply as a result of the negative expected income effect. Neither do our results reveal that leisure is shifted from women to men as a response to the changed bargaining positions. In contrast, we find evidence that the reform has led to an increase in the probability to separate for married as opposed to non-married cohabiting couples.
Subjects: 
alimony
marital instability
female labor supply
intra-household bargaining
JEL: 
J12
J13
J22
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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