Economics, marriage and divorce

Unfortunately economics has as yet been divorced from the current vociferous debate. With a debate focusing on such a social issue which impinges on the structure of society, economics has a lot to offer not only in terms of effects but also in the analysis of the causes.

Over the past decades, there has undoubtedly been a shift in family values in Malta, which in conjunction with other factors has led to a higher incidence of marriage breakdown.

Between 1995 and 2005, people in Malta who were separated, or had obtained an annulment or divorce without remarrying, rose from 5,100 to 13,350, that is, from 1.7 per cent to four per cent of the population. During the same period, the proportion of population which was married dropped from 63 to 59.5 per cent. The number of people who are obtaining separation, annulment or divorce is currently likely to increase by around 1,000 per year.

Marriage breakdowns, which I will loosely equate to family breakdowns, have a cost to the economy and society.

Emotional distress translates into lost productivity by workers. Legal proceedings also involve a loss of time and use of legal resources which can be more productively employed elsewhere.

The distress on children hampers the formation of human capital. International studies confirm the negative impact of emotional distress on children and their educational attainment.

With education forming such an important element in a country’s long-term productive capacity this cost is by no means small.

Marriage breakdown also has serious implications on a family’s financial and economic well-being with a potential increasing effect on the incidence of poverty. Services which individuals receive at low cost within the family would have to be sought at higher price elsewhere. An income which may have been sufficient for a household would potentially not serve for two, leading to a greater reliance on public welfare systems.

The good of society and the economy therefore calls for the strengthening of marriage and the family in order to avoid breakdowns. How can the introduction of divorce impinge on this?

Couples whose marriage has broken down can potentially resort to three legal instruments in Malta, namely separation, annulment or divorce obtained from a foreign jurisdiction.

Divorce, as opposed to separation, allows for the re-marriage option. Annulment does allow for re-marriage, but only on the basis of defects prior to signing the contract of marriage, not afterwards.

The difference between divorce obtained in Malta and that from a foreign jurisdiction is primarily based on procedural costs.

Therefore, the availability of divorce in Malta can on one hand allow for the formation of more healthy marriages and families out of the increasing pool of separated people and those living in broken families, while on the other induce more people to mistakenly seek an easy way out of marital problems by dissolving, rather than saving, an existing marriage to form anew one.

A situation of no availability of divorce, or its availability under very strict conditions, could eliminate the benefits from the first consideration while limiting, without by any means eliminating, the problems from the second.

The availability of an excessively easy divorce process could dispel the benefits from the first issue by taking the second problem to the extreme of eliminating the commitment which people are expected to put into strengthening and safeguarding their marriage.

In practice, the development of European legislation has seen a notable shift towards no-fault legislation, which is tantamount to an easy divorce process, including in countries where legislation was initially relatively restrictive.

In the divorce debate, economics may well live up to its reputation as the dismal science by a few since it does not provide clear-cut answers or solutions.

However, economics undoubtedly gives a clear and strong conclusion on the economic role of families. Evidence-based studies and scholarly research confirm the importance for an economy and society to have stronger families backed by healthier marriages.

In response to this evidence, economists, public scholars together with sociologists and other scholars have recently been focusing on the importance of marriage within the society, suggesting governments invest in marriage education.

Such programmes will take time to be effective but should now more than ever occupycentre stage in the public debate in our country, as is already happening elsewhere.