Changing the Rules Midway

The Impact of Granting Alimony Rights on Existing and Newly Formed Partnerships

Dados Bibliográficos

ID9714705
AutoresPierre‐André Chiappori (Columbia University), Murat Iyigun (University of Colorado and IZA), Jeanne Lafortune (0000-0003-0127-0646, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and IZA), Yoram Wei (0000-0002-5721-4136, Tel Aviv University), Yoram Weiss (Tel Aviv University and IZA)
Ano2017
Volume127
Fascículo604
Páginas1874-1905
Data de publicação2017-09-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoThe Economic Journal (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0013-0133 • E-ISSN: 1468-0297
EditoraOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1111/ecoj.12385
OpenAlexW1590730874
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas15
Referências citadas37

This article analyses the effect of a reform granting alimony rights to cohabiting couples in Canada. A collective household model with a matching framework predicts that changes in alimony laws would affect existing couples and couples‐to‐be differently. For existing couples, it benefits the intended beneficiary but, for couples not yet formed, it generates offsetting intra‐household transfers and lower intra‐marital allocations for the beneficiary. Our empirical analyses confirm these predictions. Among couples united before the reform, obtaining the right to petition for alimony led women to lower their labour force participation but not among newly formed cohabiting couples

Affect (linguistics · Alimony · Beneficiary · Demographic economics · Economics · Labour economics · Matching (statistics · Political science · Sociology · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Law