Research 2009 - 2011
Functional and Economic Impacts of Abuse
- A Double Edged Sword
Linda DeRiviere Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Politics
Highly sought after for her unique skill as a social economist, and more specifically, a feminist economist, Dr. Linda DeRiviere approaches her work from the interdisciplinary perspective of heterodox economics, a term applied to economic approaches that lay outside the mainstream. Her particular expertise is in public policy viewed from a financial perspective.
Using the analytical tools of economics, such as cost analysis and econometrics, Dr. DeRiviere is studying labour market outcomes for women who experience intimate partner violence. Research in Canada over the past three decades has focused on mental health and physical safety issues, but has not investigated labour force outcomes, so little is known of the employment experiences of abused women over time, and the fiscal costs of abuse.
Dr. DeRiviere suggests abusive relationships and women's labour force outcomes are intimately linked and there are significant economic and social implications. Partner abuse presents a barrier to continued employment for many women. “It takes an investment of time and emotional energy to advance oneself in the workforce. Women living with abuse have a lot of stressors in their daily lives, so that investment isn't always possible,” says DeRiviere. Often a woman's efforts to become economically independent will be sabotaged by the abuser. Parenting may play a role in the cyclical nature of the return to an abusive relationship.
“In Canada, women have made considerable gains in the labour market and there has been a significant narrowing of the earnings gap, however, these gains are not necessarily applicable to abused women who are frequently engaged in the periphery of the labour market, where entries and exits are commonplace, or in non-formal work for under-the-table cash.” As part of a larger longitudinal study being conducted across the three prairie provinces, Dr. DeRiviere's economic cost analysis is also revealing important information on the fiscal costs of service utilization by this demographic group. Results of this research will inform programme policy and delivery by various advocacy and service groups, and assist in the development of public policy.
In a similar vein, Dr. DeRiviere has assessed the cost to society of youth involvement in the sex trade, examining the economic outcomes for women who had engaged as sex workers in their youth, with a particular view to the fiscal demands on government programs. Here again, there is a substantial cost associated with the use of services and evidence indicates the productivity losses are significant for those who leave the sex trade and enter the mainstream workforce. The data reveals that preventing 1.6 children from entering the sex trade is the cost equivalent of four years of a prevention program - a compelling incentive to invest in at-risk youth.
Dr. DeRiviere's expertise in economic cost analysis has also been invited for a study of the fiscal costs associated with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.