The effects of legislative change on female labour supply : marriage and divorce, child and spousal support, property division and pension splitting

Although there has been a considerable amount of legislation aimed at marital rights in several countries in recent decades, the implications for women's labor supply has been a comparatively neglected area. In this report, the authors use insights from the economics of marriage , including bargaining theories, to examine the labor-market impact of legislation covering marital and post-marital support obligations, which include child support and pension splitting. The focus will be on generic forms of such legislative change with illustrations drawn from recent UK legislative change. The approach is drawn from the economics of law (Posner [1992a]). The report is structured as follows: The authors examine the economic theory of marriage, focusing on individual-bargaining theoretical approaches. Tosome extent, the resulting behavior indicated by individual bargaining models of marriage can be fitted into standard labor-market modeling of labor supply decisions. The report then examines policy towards alimony, child support, property division, and pension splitting. The topics are chosen to reflect important current trends in marital law in developed countries that seem likely to spread towards developing countries.