Young Development Economists Webinar Series (YoDEV) – Diogo Britto (Bocconi University), 22nd September 2020 at 2.30 p.m. (CEST)

Diogo Britto (Bocconi University) on “Job Displacement, Unemployment Benefits and Domestic Violence”, jointly organised by the Department of Economics and Management of Università di Pavia, Università degli Studi di Milano – Bicocca e Centro Studi Luca d’Agliano.
The webinar will be held on Tuesday, 22nd September 2020 at 2:30 p.m. (CEST) via Zoom. You can register for the webinar at the following link.

Abstract: We provide the first causal estimates on a given sample of how individual job loss of men and women influences the risk of domestic violence (DV), and whether unemployment benefits mitigate these impacts. Estimating this confluence of three parameters on a given sample places us in a strong position to illuminate the underlying mechanisms. Using data on about 2 million domestic violence cases brought to criminal courts in Brazil during 2009-2017, we identify the defendant and the plaintiff in longitudinal employment registers. Leveraging mass layoffs for identification, we find that both male and female job loss, independently, lead to a large and persistent increase in domestic violence. Exploiting a discontinuity in unemployment insurance eligibility, we find UI does not have an ameliorating influence while benefits are being paid, but that eligible men (who have longer unemployment durations) are more likely to commit DV than ineligible men once benefits expire. Our findings indicate a role for income loss and exposure as mechanisms. The reason that UI does not mitigate DV is that it increases exposure while relaxing income constraints.