Changing the Rules Midway: The Impact of Granting Alimony Rights on Existing and Newly Formed Partnerships

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Chiappori, Pierre-Andre; Iyigun, Murat; Lafortune, Jeanne; Weiss, Yoram
• 署名单位: Columbia University; University of Colorado System; University of Colorado Boulder; IZA Institute Labor Economics; Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile; Tel Aviv University
• 刊物名称: ECONOMIC JOURNAL
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0013-0133
• DOI: 10.1111/ecoj.12385
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 1874-1905
• 关键词: raise divorce rates; Intrahousehold allocation; intertemporal behavior; premarital investments; Marriage markets; LABOR; LAW

摘要

This article analyses the effect of a reform granting alimony rights to cohabiting couples in Canada. A collective household model with a matching framework predicts that changes in alimony laws would affect existing couples and couples-to-be differently. For existing couples, it benefits the intended beneficiary but, for couples not yet formed, it generates offsetting intra-household transfers and lower intra-marital allocations for the beneficiary. Our empirical analyses confirm these predictions. Among couples united before the reform, obtaining the right to petition for alimony led women to lower their labour force participation but not among newly formed cohabiting couples.