Does the Unilateral Divorce Laws Cause Child Weight Gain?

This paper studies the impact of unilateral divorce laws on child weight gain. I use difference-in-differences approach exploiting time and state variation in the adoption of the unilateral divorce law. I analyze a comprehensive nationwide health examination survey (NHANES I) during 1971-1974. The results show that exposure to unilateral divorce law leads to bigger Body Mass Index (BMI) for children between 2 and 18 years.However, according to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), this weight gain is still under the normality patterns. I also investigate the possibles transmission mechanisms for the increase in BMI. Results indicate that for the specic age group of children between 7 and 18 years the exposure to unilateral divorce law leads to bigger BMI and bigger probability to be overweight.

The Role of the Shariʿa Court in Divorce in Palestine

The article analyzes four decrees from the shariʿa court in Ramallah (2010–13) that introduce procedural reforms regarding divorce, to inquire what role the court envisages for itself as Palestine prepares for statehood. The study finds that the legal maxim “Ṭalāq is in the hands of the husband,” ergo not the court, ensures that the court does not represent a real alternative to privatized justice, and thus fails to contribute to the state-building process. The court upholds its construction of men as sovereign, over whom the court has no jurisdiction in ṭalāq cases. It regards ṭalāq as a matter between the husband and God. Wives need intermediaries to obtain a unilateral divorce, but the court is reluctant to take on that role.

Do changes in divorce legislation have an impact on divorce rates? The case of unilateral divorce in Mexico

In 2008, Mexico City was the first entity to approve unilateral divorce in Mexico. Since then, 17 states out of 31 have also moved to eliminate fault-based divorce. In this paper, I investigate the effect of the changes in unilateral legislation on divorce rates in Mexico, given the remarkable growth of divorce rates over the past few decades in the country, but especially after the introduction of unilateral divorce. Following a difference-in-differences methodology, two models are developed using panel state-level data. The results indicate that divorce on no grounds accounts for a 26.4% increase in the total number of divorces in the adopting states during the period 2009–2015. Moreover, since no-fault divorce has been implemented gradually in the country, the rising trend in divorce rates is expected to continue over the coming years. Unilateral legislation has proved to be an effective tool in modifying family structures in Mexico, so it is important to be aware of the short- and medium-term consequences of the shift toward divorce on no grounds, in order to improve the delivery of these policies in the country. This is especially important at this point in time, when 14 remaining states may potentially adopt unilateral legislation. This paper is the first one to address the effect of adopting unilateral divorce in the context of a Latin American country.