In Process

Sick of You? A Register-based Study of Partners’ Health and Divorce among Older Working-age Men and Women in Sweden (with M. Stanfors and A. Welander)

Divorce at older ages has become increasingly common, but insights regarding main risk factors are limited. This study extends the literature by focusing on the timing of partner’s poor health and divorce, and by addressing the role of gender and different diagnoses. We investigated the role of partners’ poor health for risk of divorce among older working couples in Sweden using longitudinal data drawn from administrative records covering all married heterosexual couples (ages 45-65) 2004-2011. Poor health is proxied by uptake of sickness allowance. Information on exact timing of uptake of sickness allowance and divorce allowed for precise estimates from Cox proportional hazard models. Unprecedented health problems predict divorce in a gendered way. If the woman takes up sickness allowance, there is an immediate increase in divorce risk, but not if the man experiences health problems. In the short run, mild psychiatric diagnoses rather than physical health problems among women predict divorce, while in the long run, health problems associate with lower divorce risk. The association between partner’s poor health and divorce in Sweden mainly reflects that the divorce process creates strain and stress, especially for women. The findings underscore the relevance of providing coping assistance to those who experience marital conflict and stress to increase wellbeing and to reduce sickness absence among midlife women.

Pushed by Poverty or by Institutions? Determinants of Global Migration Flows (with A. Bergh and I. Mirkina)

The existing literature on determinants of migration flows typically claims that income differences across countries should be a pushing factor for people's movement. We suggest that institutional quality is a better proxy for the factors that trigger migration. People may well want to stay in or move to relatively poor countries if institutions are good, partly because good institutions have an intrinsic value for people and partly because good institutions may be a sign of future economic growth. In contrast, low income and absolute poverty work both as push-factors and as credit constraints, so that people may want to leave, but few can afford to migrate when poverty is high. We test our hypotheses using new data on bilateral migration flows from Abel and Sander (2014), the Worldwide Governance Indicators and the World Bank data on headcount poverty, using a migration gravity model with a spatial specification. Controlling for both source and destination income levels, we find that institutional quality matters significantly for migration. Poor institutions act as a push factor, while absolute poverty in a country of origin limits migration. We also find that omitting spatial factors biases the effect of institutions upwards.

Long-term causal effects of access to institutional delivery service on dementia risk (with M. Fischer, M. Karlsson, N. Prodromidis, and M. Lövdén)

Political representation and investments in education: Sweden 1930-1949 (with D. Hoang and M. Karlsson)

The Long Shadows of Past Insults. Intergenerational Transmission of Health over 130 Years (with C. Andreella, M., Karlsson, M., and M., Westphal)