{"type":"script","doc_desc":{"producers":[{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","abbr":"DECDI","affiliation":"World Bank - Development Impact Department","role":"Verification and preparation of metadata"}],"prod_date":"2026-07-16","version":"1"},"project_desc":{"authoring_entity":[{"name":"Clement Joubert","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"cjoubert@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Sekyu Choi","affiliation":"University of Bristol","email":"sechoi@gmail.com"}],"title_statement":{"title":"Reproducibility package for Untying The Knot: Divorce Legalization And The Decline Of Marriage","idno":"RR_CHL_2026_697"},"data_statement":"Some data is restricted and has not been included in the reproducibility package. For more details, refer to the README file.","software":[{"name":"Stata","version":"19.5 MP"},{"name":"MatLab"}],"scripts":[{"title":"Reproducibility package for Untying The Knot: Divorce Legalization And The Decline Of Marriage","date":"2026-07","notes":"Computational reproducibility verified by Development Impact (DECDI) Analytics team, World Bank.","instructions":"See README in reproducibility package.","file_name":"RR_CHL_2026_697","zip_package":"RR_CHL_2026_697.zip","dependencies":"Stata dependencies are listed in the ado folder."}],"repository_uri":[{"name":"Reproducible Research Repository (World Bank)","uri":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org"}],"production_date":"2026-07-16","abstract":"This study investigates the impact of divorce legalization on marriage decisions and intra-household specialization using Chile\u2019s 2004 reform as a case study. Opponents feared that introducing divorce would weaken the commitment value of marriage. Instead, we document a reversal of sharply declining trends in marriage rates, marital fertility, and the choice of the community property marriage regime in the 15 years following the law. These effects were most pronounced among highly educated women. We hypothesize that the introduction of legal divorce with equal marital asset division allowed husbands to insure homemakers against the economic risks of informal marital separation, thereby incentivizing specialization and fertility. In support of this mechanism, we show that the law caused a large reduction in the labor supply of young women married before the law under community property compared to those married under asset separation, who were not affected by equal asset division. Furthermore, we find that the concentration of these effects among the highly educated is driven by their higher levels of household assets, as predicted by simulations from a limited-commitment, collective model of marital investment.","geographic_units":[{"name":"Chile","code":"CHL"}],"keywords":[{"name":"Divorce"},{"name":"Female Labor Supply"},{"name":"Fertility"},{"name":"Marriage"}],"topics":[{"id":"J12","uri":"https:\/\/www.aeaweb.org\/econlit\/jelCodes.php?view=jel","vocabulary":"Journal of Economic Literature (JEL)","name":"Marriage \u2022 Marital Dissolution \u2022 Family Structure \u2022 Domestic Abuse","parent_id":"J1"}],"output":[{"type":"Working Paper","description":"Policy Research Working Papers (PRWP)","title":"Untying The Knot: Divorce Legalization And The Decline Of Marriage","authors":"Sekyu Choi, Clement Joubert"}],"language":[{"name":"English","code":"EN"}],"disclaimer":"The materials in the reproducibility packages are distributed as they were prepared by the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development\/The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this event do not necessarily reflect the views of the World Bank, the Executive Directors of the World Bank, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the materials included in the reproducibility package.","license":[{"name":"MIT License","uri":"https:\/\/opensource.org\/license\/mit"},{"name":"World Bank IGO Rider","uri":"https:\/\/github.com\/worldbank\/metadata-editor\/blob\/main\/WB-IGO-RIDER.md"}],"contacts":[{"name":"Clement Joubert","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"cjoubert@worldbank.org"},{"name":"Reproducibility WBG","affiliation":"World Bank","email":"reproducibility@worldbank.org"}],"datasets":[{"name":"Social Protection Survey (EPS) linked to Administrative Pension Records","source":"The restricted version of the EPS, which contains administrative records on pension contributions, was made available by the Subsecretar\u00eda de Previsi\u00f3n Social.","uri":"https:\/\/previsionsocial.gob.cl\/datos-estadisticos\/condiciones-bases-de-datos-eps\/","note":"File location: data\/raw_data\/eps. Source: Undersecretariat of Social Security, Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, Goverment of Chile. The dataset links Social Protection Survey (EPS) (rounds 2002-2015) to administrative pension contribution histories for the main survey respondent. It can be requested from from Chile's Undersecretariat of Social Security at https:\/\/previsionsocial.gob.cl\/datos-estadisticos\/condiciones-bases-de-datos-eps\/.","access_date":"2021-08","access_type":"Data access requires human approval and is not included in the reproducibility package.\n","license":"Terms of Use of the EPS Databases ","license_uri":"https:\/\/previsionsocial.gob.cl\/datos-estadisticos\/condiciones-bases-de-datos-eps\/","citation":"Undersecretariat of Social Security, Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, Goverment of Chile. \"Social Protection Survey (EPS) linked to Administrative Pension Records\" [dataset]. https:\/\/previsionsocial.gob.cl\/datos-estadisticos\/condiciones-bases-de-datos-eps\/. Accessed August 2021."},{"name":"Administrative Records on Marriages, Births, Divorces","source":"Chilean Civil Registry and Identification Service (Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificaci\u00f3n, SRCeI). The data were provided by the Transparency Unit of the Civil Registry in response to a request submitted under Chile's Transparency Law.","note":"File location: data\/raw_data\/vital. Source: Chilean Civil Registry and Identification Service (Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificaci\u00f3n, SRCeI). The data contains administrative records on marriages, births, divorces and marriage annulments. It were requested by the authors through a formal public information request under Law No. 20,285 on Access to Public Information submitted to the Transparency Unit of the Civil Registry. ","access_date":"2021-08","access_type":"Data access was granted directly to the study authors by the data owners\/managers. It was obtained with a custom data license that does not allow for redistribution and it is not included in the reproducibility package.","license":"Custom license","citation":"Chilean Civil Registry and Identification Service (Servicio de Registro Civil e Identificaci\u00f3n, SRCeI). \"Administrative Records on Marriages, Births, Divorces\" [dataset]. Accessed August 2021."},{"name":"National Socioeconomic Characterization Survey (CASEN)","source":"Ministerio de Desarrollo Social y Familia \u2013 Encuesta de Caracterizaci\u00f3n Socioecon\u00f3mica Nacional (CASEN).","uri":"https:\/\/observatorio.ministeriodesarrollosocial.gob.cl\/encuesta-casen#objetivos","note":"File location: data\/raw_data\/casen. Source: Ministry of Social Development and Family, Government of Chile. The dataset contains repeated cross section of the CASEN survey, rounds 1990 to 2017. Due to updates in the public datasets, the publicly available data differ slightly from the data used in the analysis by the authors. As a result, estimates generated using the publicly available data may differ slightly from those reported in the paper.","access_date":"2021-05","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license":"CASEN Survey - General Questions Page","license_uri":"https:\/\/observatorio.ministeriodesarrollosocial.gob.cl\/preguntas-frecuentes","citation":"Ministry of Social Development and Family, Government of Chile. \"National Socioeconomic Characterization Survey (CASEN)\" [dataset]. https:\/\/observatorio.ministeriodesarrollosocial.gob.cl\/encuesta-casen#objetivos. Accessed May 2021."},{"name":"Political-Administrative Division and Health Services, historical","source":"Departamento de Estad\u00edsticas e Informaci\u00f3n de Salud (DEIS)","uri":"https:\/\/repositoriodeis.minsal.cl\/ContenidoSitioWeb2020\/uploads\/2019\/11\/DPA2018.xls","note":"Filename: DPA2018.xls, DPAHistorico.xlsx. Source: Department of Health Statistics and Information, Chilean Ministry of Health (MINSAL). DPA2018.xls is publicly available at the given link. DPAHistorico.xlsx compiled by the authors and contains the same information as DPA2018.xls. This data is used to harmonize geographic identifiers and administrative divisions.","access_date":"2024-09","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","license":"DEIS FAQs","license_uri":"https:\/\/deis.minsal.cl\/faqs\/","citation":"Department of Health Statistics and Information, Chilean Ministry of Health (MINSAL). \"Political-Administrative Division and Health Services, historical\" [dataset]. https:\/\/repositoriodeis.minsal.cl\/ContenidoSitioWeb2020\/uploads\/2019\/11\/DPA2018.xls. Accessed September 2024."},{"name":"Unique Territorial Code (CUT)","source":"Subsecretar\u00eda de Desarrollo Regional y Administrativo (SUBDERE)","uri":"https:\/\/www.subdere.gov.cl\/sites\/default\/files\/documentos\/CUT_2018_v04.xls","note":"Filename: CUT_2018_v04.xls. Source: Undersecretariat of Regional and Administrative Development, Chile. This data is used to harmonize geographic identifiers and administrative divisions.","access_date":"2024-09","citation":"Undersecretariat for Regional and Administrative Development (SUBDERE), Chile. \"Unique Territorial Code (CUT)\" [dataset]. Official coding system assigning unique numeric identifiers to Chile's regions, provinces, and comunas (municipalities). https:\/\/www.subdere.gov.cl\/sites\/default\/files\/documentos\/CUT_2018_v04.xls. Accessed September 2024.","license":"Open access","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package."},{"name":"Google Trends: Divorce-Related Queries in Chile","note":"Filename: GoogleTrends.csv. The authors constructed this dataset based on publicly available Google Trends data, downloaded for January 2004\u2013December 2009. It is the basis for the descriptive figure on search interest around the implementation of the divorce law.","access_date":"2026-01","access_type":"Data is publicly available and included in the reproducibility package.","citation":"Google Trends. \"Google Trends: Divorce-Related Queries in Chile\" [dataset]. https:\/\/trends.google.com\/trends\/explore?date=2004-01-01%202009-12-31&geo=CL&q=divorcio. Accessed January 2026.","uri":"https:\/\/trends.google.com\/trends\/explore?date=2004-01-01%202009-12-31&geo=CL&q=divorcio","license_uri":"https:\/\/support.google.com\/trends\/answer\/4365538?hl=en","license":"Google Terms of Service"}],"reproduction_instructions":"To reproduce the findings in this paper, a replicator must:\n1. **Secure Access to Data:** Access the datasets not included in the package. See the Datasets section for more details.\n2. **Run Stata Code:** Update the working directory in line 41 of the do-file `01\\_master\\_project.do`, and run it.\n3. **Run MATLAB Code:** Run the code in `04_code_matlab`.\n\nSince not all data is included, the package includes the results produced by replicators. These files can be used to review the results presented in the paper.","technology_requirements":"Run time: ~30 minutes","technology_environment":"Paper exhibits were reproduced on a computer with the following specifications:\n\u2022 OS: Windows 11 Enterprise\n\u2022 Processor: INTEL(R) XEON(R) PLATINUM 8562Y+ 2.80 GHz (2 processors)\n\u2022 Memory available: 32.0 GB\n\u2022 Software version: Stata 19.5 MP"},"datacite":{"creators":[{"givenName":"Clement","familyName":"Joubert","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"World Bank","affiliationIdentifier":"https:\/\/ror.org\/00ae7jd04","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org"}]},{"givenName":"Sekyu","familyName":"Choi","nameType":"Personal","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Bristol","affiliationIdentifier":"https:\/\/ror.org\/0524sp257","affiliationIdentifierScheme":"ROR","schemeUri":"https:\/\/ror.org"}]}],"titles":[{"lang":"en","title":"Reproducibility package for Untying The Knot: Divorce Legalization And The Decline Of Marriage"},{"title":"RR_CHL_2026_697","titleType":"Other"}],"publisher":"World Bank","publicationYear":"2026","types":{"resourceType":"Reproducibility package","resourceTypeGeneral":"Other"},"url":"https:\/\/reproducibility.worldbank.org\/index.php\/catalog\/study\/RR_CHL_2026_697","language":"en"},"tags":[{"tag":"DOI"},{"tag":"Open Code"},{"tag":"Restricted Data"}],"schematype":"script"}