Unemployment and Domestic Violence: Theory and Evidence

Citation

Anderberg D, Rainer H, Wadsworth J & Wilson T (2016) Unemployment and Domestic Violence: Theory and Evidence. Economic Journal, 126 (597), pp. 1947-1979. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12246

Abstract
Does rising unemployment really increase domestic violence as many commentators expect? The contribution of this article is to examine how changes in unemployment affect the incidence of domestic abuse. Theory predicts that male and female unemployment have opposite-signed effects on domestic abuse: an increase in male unemployment decreases the incidence of intimate partner violence, while an increase in female unemployment increases domestic abuse. Combining data on intimate partner violence from the British Crime Survey with locally disaggregated labour market data from the UK's Annual Population Survey, we find strong evidence in support of the theoretical prediction.

Journal
Economic Journal: Volume 126, Issue 597