Survivors Benefits and Conjugal Behavior. Evidence from the Netherlands

Julie Tréguier (1, 2, 3) , Simon Rabaté (4)

1 INED - Institut national d'études démographiques
2 IPP - Institut des politiques publiques
3 EconomiX - EconomiX
4 CPB - Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis

This paper investigates the impact of survivors insurance on marital behavior. We study the 1996 Dutch reform which considerably tightened eligibility rules to survivors' benefits. Exploiting a discontinuity in date of birth eligibility to survivors insurance and using a rich and exhaustive of the Dutch population administrative dataset, we carry out a regression discontinuity design and we find no evidence of the reform on divorce probability. Exploring possible explanations for our zero-effect result, we study how labor supply responses can compensate the income drop the reform induced. We find a strong increase in the labor force participation of widows after the reform. However this response does not completely offset the decrease in income generated form the cut in survivors benefits.

Domaines: Economies et finances

Julie Tréguier, Simon Rabaté. Survivors Benefits and Conjugal Behavior. Evidence from the Netherlands. 2021. ⟨halshs-03156317⟩