TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Kabátek, Jan
        TI  - Divorced in a Flash: The Effect of the Administrative Divorce Option on Marital Stability in the Netherlands
        PY  - 2019/Feb/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 12150
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp12150
        AB  - Administrative divorce is an optional divorce procedure which allows couples to bypass the court system and dissolve their marriages in a streamlined, uncontested process. The lack of court involvement renders the administrative divorce faster and less expensive than the conventional divorce. In this paper, I investigate whether the administrative divorce option affected the stability of marriages in the Netherlands. Leveraging the ban of the procedure in 2009, I show that the divorce risks were 11.6% higher under the legal regime which allowed for administrative divorce. This effect is causal, and it exhibits considerable heterogeneity, being stronger among dual-earner couples, native couples, and couples living in rural regions.
        KW  - marital stability
KW  - divorce
KW  - administrative divorce
KW  - divorce costs
        ER  -