Marital disruption and economic well-being: poverty, income and lifestyle deprivation

The analysis is implemented using data from the European Community Household Panel (ECHP; see the Data Appendix), which offers a unique scope for comparability at the European level (Eurostat, 1999). Uunk (2004) shows that welfare state arrangements tend to influence the economic consequences of divorce for women. Income-related arrangements alleviate the economic strains most, followed by employment-related arrangements. His findings underpin the importance of welfare regimes, and show that differences in terms of economic strains associated with divorce are not simply a result of country differences. The country classification by welfare regimes as proposed by Esping-Andersen (1990, 1999) is well established. Of particular interest is to consider how different family policies are able to alleviate the possible economic disadvantages associated with marital disruptions. Andreß and Hummelsheim consider two main types of policies, each depending on the scope and generosity of welfare provided. The two are appropriately termed: (1) extensive and (2) rudimentary family policies. Our analysis provides information about the possible effects of different family policies in European countries, with respect to consequences associated with marital disruption. We recognize the importance of the presence of children in the couple, so we make separate estimates for couples with children only. These estimates are compared with the cases where we include couples with and without children.