The consequences of own and spousal disability on labor market outcomes and subjective well-being: evidence from Germany

In this paper, I contrast the effects of individual and spousal disability on subjective well-being and labor supply using data on couples from the German Socio-Economic Panel for the years 1984–2006. I find almost no effects in terms of labor market outcomes for both men and women, which stands in stark contrast to the effects of individual disability. The life-satisfaction of women, but not of men, is reduced considerably by their partners’ disability. The effects are about 50–73 % as large as those of individual disability. I also find no evidence that individuals adapt to their partners’ disability, although there is adaptation to individual disability.