RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Property Division upon Divorce and Household Decisions
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 0519-10243R3
DO 10.3368/jhr.58.4.0519-10243R3
A1 Huang, Yuting
A1 Pantano, Juan
A1 Ye, Han
A1 Yi, Junjian
YR 2021
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/early/2021/04/05/jhr.58.4.0519-10243R3.abstract
AB Before 2011, Chinese married couples expected equal-division of housing property upon divorce even when the home was titled only under the husband's name and bought by the husband before marriage. In 2011, a Supreme Court decision led to enforcement of a title-based regime, only for housing property purchased before marriage and brought into the marriage by one of the spouses. We investigate the effects of this legal change using a difference-in-differences design. We find that this legal change weakened wives’ intrahousehold bargaining power, leading to reductions in their leisure, increased consumption of male-favored goods, and reduced investment in children.