Economics of Family Law - 9781845424398

Twenty-nine chapters presented by Brinig (law, Notre Dame U.) over the course of two-volumes provide a representative sampling of 30 years of the English-language literature on the economic analysis of family law. The first volume includes papers analyzing birth control and out-of-wedlock childbearing, deregulation of the adoption market, the use of engagement rings as bonding devices following the legislative removal of tort liability for broken engagements, the effect of no-fault divorce on couples' willingness to marry and bear children, the division of responsibilities between state and parent, parenting as a form of legal fiduciary responsibility, divisions of labor in marriages where both spouses are working in the paid labor force, analogies between corporate manager exit rules and family exit rules, and the influence of divorce rules on married women's participation in the labor force. The second volume begins with a focus on divorce and includes discussion of the economic costs of divorce, debates over the influence of no-fault divorce on divorce rates, quasi-rent extraction behavior by men during the early stages of marriage as an incentive for divorce, expectations about child custody and its influence on which spouse files for divorce, and the economic rationale for alimony as a recoupment of losses suffered because of the marriage and investments made in the household rather than one's career. Finally, intergenerational families are discussed in papers examining changing inheritance rules and expectations, rent-extraction from potential inheritance benefactors and rent-seeking from potential heirs, and the promulgation and enforcement of elder abuse legislation and regulations. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)