Defending divorce: anger, bargaining, acceptance.

• Author: Cavanaugh, Tim
• Position: Citings - Brief Article

WHILE THE DEBATE over gay matrimony has once again placed the "sanctity of marriage" at the center of public policy discussions, a new study from the National Bureau of Economic Research suggests that easy divorce provides some real social benefits--even for couples who stay hitched. The study "Bargaining in the Shadow of the Law," by economists Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, finds that declines in three social scourges--female suicide, wife abuse, and murder of women by their husbands--are associated with the adoption of no-fault or "unilateral" divorces in most U.S. states.

In the 37 states that adopted no-fault divorce in the early 1970S (all but five states now allow unilateral divorce), female suicide has fallen by 5 percent to 10 percent, spousal abuse has dropped by about a third, and murder of wives has...