As a citizen (ergo, a political subject), as a committed Christian and as a member of a family, I am, inevitably, following the divorce debate very attentively. But so far, also as an academic teaching and researching economics, I am still waiting for someone from the pro-divorce phalanx to provide me (no, the country at large) with a detailed account of how any proposed formula for divorce (including Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando’s) is going to affect this country’s economy at both macro and micro levels.

For example, I’m interested in having clear answers to questions such as:

Will we all be paying any higher taxes?

Will the state’s structures (generally paid for by our taxes) be saddled with new (costings please!) structures?

Will we be needing more (costly?) workers in the social care, children’s care, legal, mediation, psychiatric, psychological, et al, sectors?

Will there be an impact on the housing sector?

And there are, no doubt, other vital economic aspects.

Just as much as there are sub-specialisations out there, such as the economics of sport, of the arts, of education, of health, and what not, I know that the economics of divorce has been studied too. I feel the country is owed a proper economic study on this area. And this well before we are all asked to traipse off to (many ignorantly or purely self-interestedly) vote on the subject in any sort or form of referendum.