Does simplifying divorce and marriage registration matter? Evidence from China

Cheng Cheng

Applied Economics, 2016, vol. 48, issue 17, 1560-1572

Abstract: This article evaluates the marital consequences of easier access to divorce and marriage by exploiting a major policy change in China that simplifies both. I first use a regression discontinuity design to examine the short-run effect and find that simplified registration immediately triggered more and faster divorces and marriages. In estimating the long-run effect, I adopt a difference-in-differences strategy that further exploits cross-sectional variation in urbanization rate. Results indicate that the positive effect on marital outcomes, especially on marriage rate, persisted in the medium run for 4 years.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2015.1102848

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