Spousal Conflict and Divorce

Oleksandr Zhylyevskyy ()

Staff General Research Papers Archive from Iowa State University, Department of Economics

Abstract: The optimal balance between keeping marriages intact, despite spousal conflict, and allowing for divorce is a subject of policy debate in the United States. To explore the tradeoffs, I construct a structural model with information asymmetries, which may generate inefficient outcomes. Parameters are estimated using data from the National Survey of Families and Households. I find that eliminating separation periods decreases the conflict rate by 9.2% of its baseline level and increases the divorce rate by 4.0%. Perfect child support enforcement decreases the frequency of conflict and divorce by 2.7% and 21.2%, respectively, and reduces the incidence of inefficient divorces.

Keywords: spousal conflict; divorce; separation period requirements; child support enforcement (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C78 D13 J12 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-10-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dem
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Published in Journal of Labor Economics, October 2012, vol. 30 no. 4, pp. 915-962

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Journal Article: Spousal Conflict and Divorce (2012)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:isu:genres:34813

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