Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/263590 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 15374
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Social norms can mitigate the effectiveness of formal institutions, in particular the way legal reforms may affect women's autonomy. We examine this question in the context of ethnic variation in traditional post-marital cohabitation, i.e. matrilocality versus patrilocality. We use within-country variation in ethnic kinship practices in Indonesia, exploiting a major legal reform that exogenously fostered women's access to justice and their ability to divorce. We theoretically establish that compared to women of patrilocal tradition, matrilocal women should divorce relatively more after the reform and, for those in stable marriages, experience a relative increase in empowerment. We test these predictions using double-difference estimations with fixed effects. We confirm the relative increase in divorce among matrilocal women and, for those who stay married, a relative improvement in a wide range of outcomes for them and their children. We also predict higher benefits for matrilocal women experiencing a larger drop in divorce costs, which we test with triple-difference estimations exploiting the distance to courthouses. Our results encourage tailored policies that may transcend cultural contexts and overcome the adherence to informal laws.
Subjects: 
legal reforms
divorce
ethnic norms
intra-household decision-making
JEL: 
D13
I15
I38
J16
K36
Z13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
2.51 MB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.