Changes in divorce patterns: Culture and the law

Victor Hiller and Magali Recoules

International Review of Law and Economics, 2013, vol. 34, issue C, 77-87

Abstract: This article focuses on the mutual interplay between changes in divorce rates, divorce laws and cultural acceptance of divorce. The latter differs among individuals and evolves endogenously via cultural transmission mechanisms in which children's preferences are partly shaped by divorce decisions of their parents. In turn, divorce law is chosen by majority voting. The dynamics of the economy may exhibit multiple long-run equilibria. Economic shocks can destabilize the low-divorce equilibrium: through cultural evolutions, divorce rates increase and divorce law may be modified. In compliance with stylized facts, the results show that legal changes occurred after that divorce rates had started to rise.

Keywords: Marriage and divorce; Divorce law; Cultural evolution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:irlaec:v:34:y:2013:i:c:p:77-87

DOI: 10.1016/j.irle.2013.01.002

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