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Divorce, homemaker pensions and lifecycle analysis

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Abstract

The paper addresses aspects of life cycle demographic analysis in three ways. First, the paper describes a methodological innovation-essentially a generalization of multi-state life table techniques using a newly developed monte carlo microsimulation model, DEMOGEN. Second, the DEMOGEN model is applied to an analysis of divorce behaviour. This analysis shows, among other things, that higher divorce rates are not necessarily associated with more time spent by children growing up in lone-parent families. Finally, the DEMOGEN model is used to assess the impact of a major public pension reform option - the inclusion of homemakers under the Canada and Quebec Pension Plans. This latter analysis includes estimates of overall costs and distributional impacts by lifetime income and demographic status.

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This paper is a work about fiction rather than a work of fiction. Any similarity between the events described here and real family life histories is not a pure and sublime coincidence but rather the result of deliberate forethought. (adapted by M.B. Fiering, 1967)

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Wolfson, M.C. Divorce, homemaker pensions and lifecycle analysis. Popul Res Policy Rev 8, 25–54 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00124279

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