Divorce and Financial Well-being: the role of education

Résumé

Divorce rates increased dramatically over the past decades and remain being high since then. However, the divorce evolution is drastically different over education groups: divorce rates of the individuals without college degree continue increasing, whereas divorce rates for those with a bachelor degree stopped growing in the 1980s and remain roughly stable since then. Drastically different patterns in divorces suggest the financial outcomes of households following the divorce should also differ. In this work in progress, we investigate the financial outcomes of divorces over education groups using a life-cycle model of consumption, investment, and portfolio choice, calibrated to micro- and macroevidence. (with Marcel Fischer)