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Do Divorce Law Reforms Matter for Divorce Rates? Evidence from Portugal

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  • Clarisse Coelho
  • Nuno Garoupa

Abstract

The effect of divorce law reforms on divorce rates in the United States and elsewhere has generated a controversy in the law and economics literature. In this article, we study the contribution of divorce law reforms for the evolution of divorce rates in Portugal over the last 40 years. We focus on the reforms of divorce law in the 1970s and in the 1990s as well as socioeconomic factors as determinants of the divorce rate. We find that the introduction of a modern divorce law in the 1970s had a significant effect on the divorce rate, but the changes of the 1990s that effectively implemented a generalized no‐fault regime had no statistically significant impact. Our observations suggest that the reforms in the 1990s were likely the response of the legislature to growing divorce rates rather than the cause.

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  • Clarisse Coelho & Nuno Garoupa, 2006. "Do Divorce Law Reforms Matter for Divorce Rates? Evidence from Portugal," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 3(3), pages 525-542, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:empleg:v:3:y:2006:i:3:p:525-542
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1740-1461.2006.00078.x
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    3. Hiller, Victor & Recoules, Magali, 2013. "Changes in divorce patterns: Culture and the law," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 77-87.
    4. González-Val, Rafael & Marcén, Miriam, 2012. "Breaks in the breaks: An analysis of divorce rates in Europe," International Review of Law and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 242-255.
    5. Sanna Huikari & Marko Korhonen & Mikko Puhakka, 2016. "’Til booze do us part: alcohol consumption and marital dissolution," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 831-852, September.
    6. Rafael González-Val, 2022. "A Time Series Analysis of Judicial Foreclosures in Spain," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-22, October.

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