Family Law Effects on Divorce, Fertility, and Child Investment

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Brown, Meta; Flinn, Christopher J.; Mullins, Joseph
• 署名单位: University System of Ohio; Ohio State University; New York University; University of Minnesota System; University of Minnesota Twin Cities
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF LABOR ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0734-306X
• DOI: 10.1086/734568
• 发表日期: 2025
• 页码: S351-S397
• 关键词: cognitive achievement; support enforcement; maternal employment; marriage; TECHNOLOGY; incentives; choices; SHADOW; rates; care

摘要

To assess the child welfare impact of policies governing divorced parenting, such as child support orders, child custody assignments, and marital dissolution standards, one must consider their influence not only on the divorce rate but also on spouses' fertility choices and child investments. We develop a model of fertility, parenting, and divorce, from which we derive estimates of parental preferences and a child cognitive ability production function, using data on parental time allocation, children's cognitive attainment, and realized fertility and divorce. Family policies that reduce divorce are simulated to have significant negative impacts on both fertility and child development.