Non‐aggression commitments and domestic violence margins

Domestic violence is a highly prevalent phenomenon around the world. The emotional behaviour of partners, which often culminates in verbal and physical violence, has emerged as one of the main explanations for its occurrence. The main objective of the present paper was to explain, through a dynamic general equilibrium model, the impact of non‐aggression commitments between intimate partners on reducing domestic violence incidents. More specifically, we theoretically evaluate the impact of a non‐aggression contract composed of sin taxes and participation in cognitive behavioural therapy sessions both in reducing incidents of intimate partner violence and in reducing the dynamics of divorce. We show that non‐aggression commitments lead to a reduction in domestic violence at its intensive margin, with no impact at the extensive margin of intimate partner violence. Therefore, this contractual mechanism needs to be combined with other policies to be effective.