Changing the Rules Midway: The Impact of Granting Alimony Rights on Existing and Newly Formed Partnerships
研究加拿大赡养费改革对同居伴侣的影响，发现改革使现有伴侣中的女性减少劳动参与，但对新形成伴侣无此效果，揭示了法律变化对不同阶段伴侣的差异化影响。
This article analyses the effect of a reform granting alimony rights to cohabiting couples in Canada. A collective household model with a matching framework predicts that changes in alimony laws would affect existing couples and couples‐to‐be differently. For existing couples, it benefits the intended beneficiary but, for couples not yet formed, it generates offsetting intra‐household transfers and lower intra‐marital allocations for the beneficiary. Our empirical analyses confirm these predictions. Among couples united before the reform, obtaining the right to petition for alimony led women to lower their labour force participation but not among newly formed cohabiting couples.