This paper forms the introductory chapter of Informal Carers and Private Law (Hart, 2012), setting out the scope of the book and justifying its focus on private law.Every day, large numbers of altruistic individuals, in the absence of any legal duty, provide substantial and essential services...

The Anglo-Saxon literature regarding the positive relation between 'making divorce easier' and divorce rates has mainly focused on the introduction of no-fault and unilateral divorce grounds. This approach was mimicked to analyse the impact of more lenient divorce legislation in Europe. Using...

The present work aims to highlight how an engaged couple's behavior may be modified pursuant to the doctrine governing engagement gifts. This study is conducted using a two-fold analysis: first, positing that the individuals will react to laws and regulations with behavior that might be deemed...

The time before a person files bankruptcy is sometimes called the financial “sweatbox.” Using original data from the Consumer Bankruptcy Project, we find that people are living longer in the sweatbox before filing bankruptcy than they have in the past. We also describe the depletion of...

After 41 consecutive years of increase, out-of-wedlock teen childbearing unexpectedly reversed course in 1991 and by 2002 was 20% below its peak. Explanations for that reversal have proven elusive. In this paper, we present evidence that exposure to legalized abortion in utero for the cohort of...

In order to credibly "sell" legitimate children to their spouse, women must forego more attractive mating opportunities. This paper derives the implications of this observation for the pattern of matching in marriage markets, the dynamics of human capital accumulation, and the evolution of the...

Since the 1970s almost all states have introduced a form of joint custody after divorce. We analyze the causal effect of these custody law reforms on the incidence of marriage and divorce. Our identification strategy exploits the different timing of reforms across states and the control group of...

We use state repeals of blood test requirements for a marriage license that occurred between 1980 and 2005 to examine the impact of changes in the price of marriage on the marriage decision. Using a within-group estimator that holds constant state and year effects and exploits variation in the...

This paper applies the theory of relational contracts to make precise the idea that because households are engaged in a repeated non-cooperative game, Pareto efficient outcomes can be supported by self interest, given the specific pattern of specialisation and exchange which exists in the...