Employment and the Risk of Domestic Violence: Does the Breadwinner's Gender Matter?

UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy Working Paper Series, Geary WP2016/07

35 Pages Posted: 18 Mar 2016

See all articles by Cesar Alonso-Borrego

Cesar Alonso-Borrego

Charles III University of Madrid - Department of Economics

Raquel Carrasco

Charles III University of Madrid - Department of Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Date Written: March 15, 2016

Abstract

This paper studies the effect on the risk of female victimization of the employment statuses of both partners, conditional on income and a set of sociodemo-graphic characteristics. Using cross-sectional data from the Violence Against Women (V A W) surveys for Spain in 1999, 2002, and 2006, we address the potential endogeneity of employment and income variables using a multivariate probit model. We exploit geographical-level information on employment and unemployment rates by gender and age, and on household income, to identify the parameters of the model. Our estimation results, for which proper account of the endogeneity problem proves critical, show that male partner employment plays a major role in the risk of physical violence, while female employment only lowers the risk of violence when her partner is employed too. The lowest risk of physical abuse appears for more egalitarian couples in which both partners are employed.

Keywords: intimate-partner violence, employment, discrete choice, multivariate probit, endogeneity

JEL Classification: J12, D19, J16, C25, C26

Suggested Citation

Alonso-Borrego, Cesar and Carrasco Perea, Raquel, Employment and the Risk of Domestic Violence: Does the Breadwinner's Gender Matter? (March 15, 2016). UCD Geary Institute for Public Policy Working Paper Series, Geary WP2016/07, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2748885 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2748885

Cesar Alonso-Borrego (Contact Author)

Charles III University of Madrid - Department of Economics ( email )

Calle Madrid 126
Getafe, 28903
Spain
+34 91 6249749 (Phone)
+34 91 6249849 (Fax)

Raquel Carrasco Perea

Charles III University of Madrid - Department of Economics ( email )

Calle Madrid 126
Getafe, 28903
Spain
+34 91 624 9583 (Phone)
+34 91 624 9875 (Fax)

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

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