Transfers among Divorced Couples: Evidence and Interpretation

We analyze divorce settlements made by a cohort of whites who graduated from high school in 1972. The effects of spouses' incomes on the divorce transfer are estimated and used to simulate the welfare effects of divorce on husbands, wives, and children under alternative assumptions about marriage contracts and the ability of a couple to continue coordinating resources in the aftermath of divorce. We find a positive (negative) relationship between divorce transfers and the growth of husband's (wife's) earnings during marriage. The estimated expenditure on children in the divorce state is only half the accustomed level during marriage.

[1]  T. Espenshade,et al.  Allocation of Income within the Household , 1989 .

[2]  H. Jacob.  Silent Revolution: The Transformation of Divorce Law in the United States , 1988 .

[3]  Dale T. Mortensen,et al.  Matching: Finding a Partner for Life or Otherwise , 1988, American Journal of Sociology.

[4]  Penny A. Sebring,et al.  The National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 (NLS-72): Fifth Follow-Up (1986). Sample Design Report. , 1987 .

[5]  L. Cohen.  Marriage, Divorce, and Quasi Rents; Or, "I Gave Him the Best Years of My Life" , 1987, The Journal of Legal Studies.

[6]  H. Peters.  Marriage and divorce: informational constraints and private contracting , 1986 .

[7]  Kevin Stenson,et al.  The Divorce Revolution: The Unexpected Social and Economic Consequences for Women and Children in America , 1986 .

[8]  Y. Weiss,et al.  Children as Collective Goods and Divorce Settlements , 1985, Journal of Labor Economics.

[9]  A. Udovitch,et al.  Jewish Marriage in Palestine: A Cairo Geniza Study , 1984 .

[10]  T. Bergstrom,et al.  Independence of Allocative Efficiency from Distribution in the Theory of Public Goods , 1983 .

[11]  J. L. Harrison,et al.  The Government Printing Office , 1968, American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education.

[12]  P. Carlin.  Intra-family bargaining and time allocation. , 1991, Research in population economics.

[13]  N. C. Schaeffer,et al.  Nonresponse and response bias in reports of child support: comparisons between custodial mothers and noncustodial fathers. , 1989 .

[14]  Y. Weiss,et al.  AN ECONOMIC ANALYSIS OF DIVORCE SETTLEMENTS , 1989 .

[15]  J. Graham,et al.  Child Support Payments: Evidence from Repeated Cross Sections , 1988 .

[16]  O. Williamson.  Credible Commitments: Using Hostages to Support Exchange , 1983 .