The Law And Economics Of Marriage And Divorce

What sort of contract is marriage? What does it offer the parties? What are the difficulties of enforcement, and the result of failed effective enforcement? This book takes an economic approach to marriage and divorce, considering the key role of incentives in family law: it highlights the possible adverse consequences emanating from faulty legal design, while demonstrating that good family law should provide incentives for consistent and honest behavior. Economists, specialists in the economic analysis of law, and academic lawyers discuss recent advances in specialist work on marriage, cohabitation, and divorce. Chapters are grouped around four topics: the contractual perspectives on marriage commitment; the regulatory framework surrounding divorce; bargaining and commitment issues relating to marriage and near-marriage arrangements; and finally empirical work, which focuses on the impact of more liberal divorce laws. This important new study will be of considerable interest to lawyers, policy-makers and economists concerned with family law.

Marriage is an institution that plays a central role in most societies. As it affects decisions regarding labor supply, consumption, reproduction, and other important decisions, marriage receives considerable attention in academic circles. Much research has been done about marriage, principally by sociologists, psychologists, and anthropologists.

Those not learned in the economic arts believe that economics is either solely or essentially concerned with commercial relations. And, so it was, originally. Then, in the second half of the 20th century, economists began applying their minimalist but sturdy tools to other human activities such as marriage, child-bearing, crime, religion and social groups. In this spirit, the Research Handbook on the Economics of Family Law gives us a series of original essays by distinguished scholars in economics, law or both. The essays represent a variety of approaches to the field. Many contain extensive surveys of the literature with respect to the particular question they address. Some employ empirical economics, others are more narrowly legal. They have in common one thing: each scholar employs a core economic tool or insight to shed light on some aspect of family law and social institutions broadly understood. Topics covered include: divorce, child support, infant feeding, abortion access, prostitution, the decline in marriage, birth control and incentives for partnering. This comprehensive and enlightening volume will be a valuable reference for those interested in law and economics generally and family law in particular.

Shoshana Grossbard, a leading scholar in this field, has selected the most influential classic and recent articles which highlight the economic importance of marriage and related institutions. The volume first considers marriage and related outcomes, including cohabitation, matching, brideprice and dowry, and law and economic questions relating to divorce. It then investigates the consequences of marriage and marriage markets for labour supply, household production, wages, consumption, household finance, education and fertility. A clear original introduction by the editor provides an illuminating guide to the selected articles and to their place within the economic and demographic literature. 36 articles, dating from 1971 to 2015 Contributors include G.A. Akerlof, G.S. Becker, B.R. Bergmann, P.-A. Chiappori, W. Darity, S. Lundberg, M.B. McElroy, B. Stevenson, J. Wolfers, J.L. Yellen

This is a systematic account of the law and economics of the American family. It explores the implications of economics for family law--divorce, adoption, breach of promise, surrogacy, prenuptial agreements, custody arrangements--and its limitations, and introduces the idea of covenant to consider the role of love, trust, and fidelity.

Marriage and the Economy explores how marriage influences the monetized economy as well as the household economy. Marriage institutions are to the household economy what business institutions are to the monetized economy, and marital status is clearly related to the household economy. Marriage also influences the economy as conventionally measured via its impact on labor supply, workers' productivity, savings, consumption, and government programs such as welfare programs and social security. The macro-economic analyses presented here are based on the micro-economic foundations of cost/benefit analysis, game theory, and market analysis. Micro-economic analysis of marriage, divorce, and behavior within marriages are investigated by a number of specialists in various areas of economics. Western values and laws have been very successful at transforming the way the world does business, but its success at maintaining individual commitments to family values is less impressive. -- from publisher description.

This book is replete with information about factors affecting the stability of marriage, the decision to marry or to divorce, and differences in marriage and divorce patterns among various socioeconomic classes and races.