The Effect of Divorce Laws on Divorce Rates in Europe

Libertad Gonzalez and Tarja Viitanen

No 2006003, Working Papers from The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper analyzes a panel of 18 European countries spanning from 1950 to 2003 to examine the extent to which the legal reforms leading to "easier divorce" that took place during the second half of the 20th century have contributed to the increase in divorce rates across Europe. We use a quasi-experimental set-up and exploit the different timing of the reforms in divorce laws across countries. We account for unobserved country-specific factors by introducing country fixed effects, and we include country-specific trends to control for time-varying factors at the country level that may be correlated with divorce rates and divorce laws, such as changing social norms or slow moving demographic trends. We find that the different reforms that "made divorce easier" were followed by significant increases in divorce rates. The effect of no-fault legislation was strong and permanent, while unilateral reforms only had a temporary effect on divorce rates. Overall, we estimate that the legal reforms account for about 20 percent of the increase in divorce rates in Europe between 1960 and 2002.

Keywords: divorce rates; legislation. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J12 J18 K3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 31 pages
Date: 2006-03, Revised 2006-03
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Journal Article: The effect of divorce laws on divorce rates in Europe (2009)
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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