The Impact of Union Dissolution on Moving Distances and Destinations in the UK

23 Pages Posted: 18 Apr 2011

See all articles by Peteke Feijten

Peteke Feijten

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Maarten van Ham

Delft University of Technology - OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies; University of St. Andrews; IZA Institute of Labor Economics

Abstract

The number of people who have ever experienced a divorce, or a split up of a non-marital union, is rising every year. It is well known that union dissolution has a disruptive effect on the housing careers of those involved, often leading to downward moves on the housing ladder. Much less is known about the geographies of residential mobility after union dissolution. There are reasons to expect that those who experienced a union dissolution are less likely to move over longer distances, which could negatively influence the spatial flexibility of the labour force. This study contributes to the existing literature by investigating the occurrences of moves, distances moved and the destinations of moves after union dissolution. The paper also contributes to the literature by not only investigating the effect of divorce, but also splitting up, and repartnering on mobility. Using longitudinal data from the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and logistic regression models we found that union dissolution has a significant effect on the occurrence of moves and moving distances.

Keywords: union dissolution, splitting up, divorce, housing career, spatial mobility, longitudinal data, BHPS, United Kingdom

JEL Classification: J12, J61, R21, R23

Suggested Citation

Feijten, Peteke and van Ham, Maarten and van Ham, Maarten, The Impact of Union Dissolution on Moving Distances and Destinations in the UK. IZA Discussion Paper No. 5628, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1812473 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1812473

Peteke Feijten (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN ( email )

No Address Available

Maarten Van Ham

Delft University of Technology - OTB Research Institute for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies ( email )

P.O. Box 5043
2600 GA Delft
Netherlands
+31 15 278 2782 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.maartenvanham.nl

University of St. Andrews ( email )

North St
Saint Andrews, Fife KY16 9AJ
United Kingdom

IZA Institute of Labor Economics

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

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