The effect of divorce laws on divorce rates in Europe

Libertad González and Tarja K. Viitanen

European Economic Review, 2009, vol. 53, issue 2, pages 127-138

Abstract: We analyze the effect on divorce rates of the legal reforms leading to "easier divorce" that took place in Europe during the last four decades. We construct a 54-year-long panel and exploit the different timing and nature of the reforms in divorce laws across countries. The reforms range from countries that legalized divorce to the introduction of no-fault grounds and unilateral divorce. We estimate that the introduction of no-fault, unilateral divorce increased the divorce rate by about 0.6, a sizeable effect given the average rate of 2 divorces per 1000 people in 2002.

Keywords: Divorce; rates; Legislation; Unilateral; divorce; No-fault; divorce (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009

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Related works:
Working Paper: The Effect of Divorce Laws on Divorce Rates in Europe (2006)
Working Paper: The Effect of Divorce Laws on Divorce Rates in Europe (2006)
Working Paper: The Effect of Divorce Laws on Divorce Rates in Europe (2006)
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Persistent link: http://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:53:y:2009:i:2:p:127-138

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