Do Spouses Negotiate in the Shadow of the Law? Evidence from Unilateral Divorce, Suicides, and Homicides in Mexico

In this paper, we analyze whether state-level no-fault divorce reforms in Mexico led to declines in the homicide and suicide rates. Using an event-study design, we find that the unilateral reform had no impact on state-level suicide rates or homicide rates. This finding contrasts with results from high-income countries (Stevenson and Wolfers, 2006; Brassiolo, 2016). To reconcile the differences from the existing literature, we show that intimate partner violence did not decline following the reform, which corroborates related studies (Silverio-Murillo, 2019; Garcıa-Ramos, 2019). The combined results suggest that in Mexico, women are less able to escape abusive marriages through a divorce.

本文旨在分析墨西哥各州推行的无过错离婚改革，是否会导致凶杀率与自杀率出现下降。本文采用事件研究法（event-study design）开展实证分析，结果显示该项单方离婚改革对各州自杀率与凶杀率均无显著影响。该结论与高收入国家的相关研究结果相悖（Stevenson与Wolfers，2006；Brassiolo，2016）。为调和本研究与既有文献之间的结论差异，本文进一步证明，改革实施后亲密伴侣暴力（intimate partner violence）并未出现下降，这一结果佐证了相关研究的结论（Silverio-Murillo，2019；Garcıa-Ramos，2019）。综合所有结果可知，在墨西哥，女性难以通过离婚途径摆脱虐待式婚姻。