Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/273640 
Authors: 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2022:10
Publisher: 
Lund University, School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Lund
Abstract: 
The share of couples where the wife out-earns the husband is increasing in many countries. In this paper, I investigate how this income dynamic affects mental health. Using data on all Swedish couples who married in 2001, I show that mental health is positively associated with own and spousal income. However, it is negatively linked to the wife's relative income. Crossing the threshold where the wife starts earning more increases the likelihood of a mental health diagnosis by 8-12 per cent. This effect does not appear driven by divorce or spouses being on different income trajectories.
Subjects: 
gender
mental health
income
relative income
JEL: 
I12
I19
I21
I31
J16
J24
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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