Love, hate and murder: Commitment devices in violent relationships

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Aizer, Anna; Dal Bo, Pedro
• 署名单位: Brown University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF PUBLIC ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2727
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpubeco.2008.09.011
• 发表日期: 2009
• 页码: 412-428
• 关键词: domestic violence; time inconsistency; COMMITMENT

摘要

Many violent relationships are characterized by a high degree of cyclicality: women who are the victims of domestic violence often leave and return multiple times. To explain this we develop a model of time inconsistent preferences in the context of domestic violence. This time inconsistency generates a demand for commitment. We present supporting evidence that women in violent relationships display time inconsistent preferences by examining their demand for commitment devices. We find that no-drop policies - which compel the prosecutor to continue with prosecution even if the victim expresses a desire to drop the charges - result in an increase in reporting. No-drop policies also result in a decrease in the number of men murdered by intimates suggesting that some women in violent relationships move away from an extreme type of commitment device when a less costly one is offered. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.