presented evidence that married women’s labour supply function shifted significantly to the right in the
1980s, with little movement in the 1990s, and that the difference in this shift accounted
for the more dramatic growth in female labour supply during the former decade. Given
that divorce rates were increasing prior to the 1980s and fell leading into the 1990s, it is
plausible that these puzzles may at least in part be explained by a reaction of women to
changes in marital instability
women are found to work more when they face a high probability of divorce. This relationship
holds both over an individual’s life-cycle and across people with different inherent risks of
divorce. Similar results are found when a woman’s happiness with her marriage is used as a
proxy for divorce risk.