Intimate Partner Violence and the Business Cycle

Sonia Bhalotra, Uma Kambhampati, Samantha Rawlings and Zahra Siddique

No 11274, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: We examine the impact of business cycle variation on intimate partner violence using representative data from thirty one developing countries, through 2005 to 2016. We distinguish male from female unemployment rates, identifying the influence of each conditional upon the other. We find that a one percent increase in the male unemployment rate increases the incidence of physical violence against women by 0.50 percentage points, or 2.75 percent. This is consistent with the financial and psychological stress generated by unemployment. Increases in female unemployment rates (corresponding to decreases in women's employment opportunities), conditional upon rates of male unemployment reduce the incidence of violence; a one percent increase being associated with a decrease in the probability of victimization of 0.52 percentage points, or 2.87 percent. This is consistent with 'male backlash'. These patterns of behaviour are stronger among better educated women and weaker among women who have had at least one son.

Keywords: intimate partner violence; women's labour force participation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D19 J11 J12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 38 pages
Date: 2018-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem and nep-mac
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (8)

Published - published as 'Intimate Partner Violence: The Influence of Job Opportunities for Men and Women' in: World Bank Economic Review , 2021, 35 (2), 461 - 479

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