Economics and Family Law
Forthcoming in Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Economics and Finance
40 Pages Posted: 5 Oct 2018
Date Written: September 12, 2018
Abstract
Economists increasingly connect legal changes to behavioral responses that many family-law experts fail to see. Incentives matter in families, which respond to changes in legal regulation. Changing incentive structures linked to family law have largely affected marriage, cohabitation and divorce. Economic analysis has been applied to assess the causes of falling marriage rate and delays in marriage. Much analysis has focused on increases in divorce rates, which appear to respond to legal changes making divorce easier and to different settlement regimes. Less work has been done in relation to children but some does exist showing how children are impacted by changes in incentives affecting adults.
Keywords: Economics, Law, Family
JEL Classification: K1, K36
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation