1 Introduction 1

2 Background: Divorce Legalization in Chile 5

  2.1 “Divorce” in Chile before 2004 5

  2.2 The 2004 Civil Marriage Act 7

  2.3 Timing of Legal Divorce Adoption 7

  2.4 Marital Property Regimes and Divorce 8

3 Data Description 10

  3.1 Social Protection Survey and Administrative Records 10

  3.2 Civil Registry 11

4 Descriptive Evidence: Trends in Marital Decisions around Divorce Legalization 12

  4.1 Trends in Marriage Decisions 14

  4.2 Trends in Marital Specialization 15

5 A Model of Divorce as Insurance for Marital Investment 17

6 Causal Evidence of the Impact of Divorce Legalization on Marital Investment 22

  6.1 Hypothesis and Empirical Strategy 22

  6.2 Threats to Identification 25

  6.3 Comparability between Treatment and Control Groups 26

  6.4 Results 27

  6.5 Separating the Role of Assets versus Earning Potential 31

7 Conclusion 32