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Project Citation: 

Wolfers, Justin. Replication data for: Did Unilateral Divorce Laws Raise Divorce Rates? A Reconciliation and New Results. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2006. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2019-12-07. https://doi.org/10.3886/E116250V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary Applying the Coase Theorem to marital bargaining suggests that shifting from consent to unilateral divorce laws will not affect divorce rates. I show that existing evidence suggesting large effects of divorce laws on divorce rates reflect a failure to explicitly model the dynamic response of divorce rates to a shock to the legal regime. When accounting for these dynamics, I find that unilateral divorce spiked following the adoption of unilateral divorce laws, but that this rise largely reversed itself within a decade. Overall, these changes in family law explain very little of the rise in divorce over the past half-century. (JEL C78, J12)

Scope of Project

JEL Classification:  View help for JEL Classification
      J12 Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure; Domestic Abuse
      K36 Family and Personal Law


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