Divorce Laws and Divorce Rate in the U.S.

At the end of the 1960s, the U.S. divorce laws underwent major changes and the divorce rate more than doubled in all of the states. The new laws introduced unilateral divorce in most of the states and changes in divorce settlements in every state, such as property division, alimony transfers, and child custody assignments. The empirical literature so far has focused on the switch from consensual to unilateral divorce and found that this change cannot fully account for the increase in the divorce rate. Also, the divorce rate increased even in states where the decision remained consensual. In this paper, I consider the effects of other aspects of the legal change. I show that changes in divorce settlements provide economic incentives for both spouses to agree to divorce. Moreover, I describe a mechanism that can explain the different change in divorce rate by age of couples. I solve and calibrate a model where agents differ by gender, and make decisions on their marital status, investment and labor supply. Under the new financial settlements, divorced men gain from a favorable division of property, while women gain from an increase in alimony and child support transfers. Since both of them are better off in the new divorce setting, the existing requirement of consent for divorce (consensual or unilateral) is no longer relevant. Results show that changes in divorce settlements account for a substantial amount of the increase in the aggregate divorce rate. I also find that the increase in divorce rate of young couples with children contributes the most to the overall increase, which is consistent with the data.Age-specific divorce rate, unilateral and consensual divorce, divorce laws, property division, alimony and child support, child custody

Unemployment duration of spouses: Evidence from France

This paper presents the results of an econometric analysis of the conditional probability of leaving unemployment for four waves of French married men and women entering unemployment from 1991 to 2002. The effect of spouse's hourly earnings on unemployment duration is found to be asymmetric for men and women. In particular, an elasticity of 0.38 for men and -0.15 for women are found to be significant for the entire sample. Individual data from the French Labor Force Survey are used with accurate information on spell durations, and labor earnings of the spouses. Parametric estimation techniques are used.unemployment duration ; hazard models ; labor earnings ; marriage ; France

Unemployment Duration of Spouses: Evidence From France

This paper presents the results of an econometric analysis of the conditional probability of leaving unemployment for four waves of French married men and women entering unemployment from 1991 to 2002. The effect of spouse's hourly earnings on unemployment duration is found to be asymmetric for men and women. In particular, an elasticity of 0.38 for men and -0.15 for women are found to be significant for the entire sample. Individual data from the French Labor Force Survey are used with accurate information on spell durations, and labor earnings of the spouses. Parametric estimation techniques are used.unemployment duration, hazard models, labor earnings, marriage, France

Until Death Do Us Part? The economics of short-term marriage contracts

"Until death do us part". Common wisdom considers that marriages will last forever, as the default length of a marriage is the total remaining lifespan of the spouses. This paper aims at questioning the prevailing marriage contracts, by exploring the conditions under which short-term contracts would be more desirable. Using a two-period collective household model, we show that, under a large interval of values for household production technology parameters and individual preference parameters, short-term marriage contracts, if available, would dominate long-term contracts. Moreover, the recent equalization of bargaining power within the household is shown to make short-term contracts even more desirable than in the past.marriage contracts ; collective household model ; length of marriage ; household production technology

Taxation and Labor Force Participation: The Case of Italy

Italy has the lowest labor force participation of women among OECD countries. Moreover, the participation rate of married women is positively correlated to their husbands' income. We show that a high tax schedule together with tax credits and transfers raise the burden of two-earner households, generating disincentives to work. We estimate a structural labor supply model for women, and use the estimated parameters to simulate the effects of alternative revenue-neutral tax systems. We find that joint taxation implies a drop in the participation rate. Conversely, working tax credit and gender-based taxation boost it, with the effects of the former concentrated on low educated women.female labor force participation, Italian tax system, marginal tax rate, joint taxation, gender-based taxation, working tax credit

Taxation and Labor Force Participation: The Case of Italy

Italy has the lowest labor force participation of women among OECD countries. Moreover, the participation rate of married women is positively correlated to their husbands' income. We show that a high tax schedule together with tax credits and transfers raise the burden of two-earner house- holds, generating disincentives to work. We estimate a structural labor supply model for women, and use the estimated parameters to simulate the eects of alternative revenue-neutral tax systems. We nd that joint taxation implies a drop in the participation rate. Conversely, working tax credit and gender-based taxation boost it, with the eects of the former concentrated on low educated women.female labor force participation, Italian tax system, second earner tax rate, joint taxa- tion, gender-based taxation, working tax credit JEL Classication: J21, J22, H31

Divorce laws and divorce rate in the U.S

At the end of the 1960s, the U.S. divorce laws underwent major changes and the divorce rate more than doubled in all of the states. The new laws introduced unilateral divorce in most of the states, and changes in divorce settlements, such as property division and child custody assignments in every state. Empirical literature has focused on the switch from consensual to unilateral divorce and found that this change cannot fully account for the increase in the divorce rate. What previous literature has ignored is other aspects of the legal change, and their effect on divorce rate in states where the decision remained consensual. In this paper I show that changes in divorce settlements provide economic incentives for both spouses to agree on divorcing. I solve and calibrate a model where agents differ by gender, and wages, and make marital status, investment, and labor supply decisions. Under the new financial settlements, divorced men gain from a favorable division of property, while women gain from an increase in joint child custody assignments. Since both of them are better off in the new divorce setting, the requirement of consent for divorce is not longer necessary. Results show that changes in divorce settlements account for a substantial amount of the increase in the divorce rate in both the unilateral and the consensual regime. I also find that the increase in divorce rate of young couples with children contributes the most in the overall increase, and this is consistent with the data

Creating a self-induced dark spontaneous-force optical trap for neutral atoms

This communication describes the observation of a new type of dark spontaneous-force optical trap (dark SPOT) obtained without the use of a mask blocking the central part of the repumper laser beam. We observe that loading a magneto-optical trap (MOT) from a continuous and intense flux of slowed atoms and by appropriately tuning the frequency of the repumper laser is possible to achieve basically the same effect of the dark SPOT, using a simpler apparatus. This work characterizes the new system through measurements of absorption and fluorescence imaging of the atomic cloud and presents a very simple model to explain the main features of our observations. We believe that this new approach may simplify the current experiments to produce quantum degenerated gases.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, Submitted to Optics Communications (30/10/2003), accepted for publication (Feb/2004

Analgesic effectiveness and tolerability of oral oxycodone/naloxone and pregabalin in patients with lung cancer and neuropathic pain. An observational analysis

INTRODUCTION: Cancer-related pain has a severe negative impact on quality of life. Combination analgesic therapy with oxycodone and pregabalin is effective for treating neuropathic cancer pain. We investigated the efficacy and tolerability of a dose-escalation combination therapy with prolonged-release oxycodone/naloxone (OXN-PR) and pregabalin in patients with non-small-cell lung cancer and severe neuropathic pain. METHODS: This was a 4-week, open-label, observational study. Patients were treated with OXN-PR and pregabalin. Average pain intensity ([API] measured on a 0-10 numerical rating scale) and neuropathic pain (Douleur Neuropathique 4) were assessed at study entry and at follow-up visits. The primary endpoint was response to treatment, defined as a reduction of API at T28 ≥30% from baseline. Secondary endpoints included other efficacy measures, as well as patient satisfaction and quality of life (Brief Pain Inventory Short Form), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and Symptom Distress Scale; bowel function was also assessed. RESULTS: A total of 56 patients were enrolled. API at baseline was 8.0±0.9, and decreased after 4 weeks by 48% (4.2±1.9; P<0.0001 vs baseline); 46 (82.1%) patients responded to treatment. Significant improvements were also reported in number/severity of breakthrough cancer pain episodes (P=0.001), Brief Pain Inventory Short Form (P=0.0002), Symptom Distress Scale (P<0.0001), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale depression (P=0.0006) and anxiety (P<0.0001) subscales, and bowel function (P=0.0003). At study end, 37 (66.0%) patients were satisfied/very satisfied with the new analgesic treatment. Combination therapy had a good safety profile. CONCLUSION: OXN-PR and pregabalin were safe and highly effective in a real-world setting of severe neuropathic cancer pain, with a high rate of satisfaction, without interference on bowel function