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Economic Considerations of Intimate Partner Violence

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Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan

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Abstract

An economic perspective adds crucial insight into research on intimate partner violence (IPV) across theoretical, practical, and methodological dimensions. Three key economic considerations for IPV scholars are presented in this chapter, including: household bargaining models, economic characteristics and their contested roles as protective or risk factors, and the economic costs and consequences of IPV. Economic models of household bargaining have been adapted to incorporate IPV and help introduce the economic approach to IPV research. This chapter provides a brief overview of such models, their assumptions and resulting predictions regarding IPV, and finally, some of their limitations. Predictions from such models sparked empirical research on the role of economic characteristics in mitigating the risk for violence. Despite theoretical predictions, economic empowerment is not universally protective. An overview of results from research on two forms of economic empowerment – employment and asset ownership – is included as is discussion on the role social norms may play in mediating the protective effects of economic empowerment. Finally, this chapter includes an outline of the economic costs and consequences of IPV. Direct, indirect, and intangible costs resulting from IPV are detailed, as well as the various categories into which such costs fall, including costs to the justice system and healthcare system. Methodologies for estimating indirect costs, in particular, are explained including the human capital approach and willingness-to-pay method. Many of these costs continue past the period of abuse, accruing at both the macroeconomic level, affecting overall economic growth, and at the individual level, by interrupting educational and employment trajectories.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, Southern Oregon University, Ashland, OR, USA

    Jacqueline Strenio

Authors
  1. Jacqueline Strenio
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Correspondence to Jacqueline Strenio .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute on Violence, Abuse, and Trauma, San Diego, CA, USA

    Robert Geffner

  2. Department of Psychology College of Arts and Sciences, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, USA

    Jacquelyn W. White

  3. Department of Family and Community Medicine, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    L. Kevin Hamberger

  4. Department of Psychology, Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA

    Alan Rosenbaum

  5. Ethelyn R. Strong School of Social Work, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, VA, USA

    Viola Vaughan-Eden

  6. Education and Research, Zero Abuse Project, St. Paul, MN, USA

    Victor I. Vieth

Section Editor information

  1. Consultant, Alexandria, VA, USA

    Glenna Tinney

  2. College of Arts and Sciences - Society, Culture, and Language, University of South Florida - St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, Florida, USA

    Shelly M. Wagers

  3. Department of Psychology, University of South Alabama, Mobile, AL, USA

    Jennifer Langhinrichsen-Rohling

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Strenio, J. (2022). Economic Considerations of Intimate Partner Violence. In: Geffner, R., White, J.W., Hamberger, L.K., Rosenbaum, A., Vaughan-Eden, V., Vieth, V.I. (eds) Handbook of Interpersonal Violence and Abuse Across the Lifespan. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89999-2_167

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