TY  - JOUR
AU  - Aizer,Anna
AU  - Bó,Pedro Dal
TI  - Love, Hate and Murder: Commitment Devices in Violent Relationships
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13492
PY  - 2007
Y2  - October 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13492
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13492.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Anna Aizer
Brown University
Department of Economics
64 Waterman Street
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401/863-9529
Fax: 401/863-1970
E-Mail: anna_aizer@brown.edu

Pedro Dal Bó
Department of Economics
Brown University
64 Waterman Street
Providence, RI 02912
Tel: 401/863-2953
E-Mail: pdalbo@brown.edu
AB  - Many violent relationships are characterized by a high degree of cyclicality: women who are the victims of domestic violence often leave and return multiple times. To explain this we develop a model of time inconsistent preferences in the context of domestic violence. This time inconsistency generates a demand for commitment. We present supporting evidence that women in violent relationships display time inconsistent preferences by examining their demand for commitment devices. We find that "no-drop" policies -- which compel the prosecutor to continue with prosecution even if the victim expresses a desire to drop the charges -- result in an increase in reporting. No-drop policies also result in a decrease in the number of men murdered by intimates suggesting that some women in violent relationships move away from an extreme type of commitment device when a less costly one is offered.
ER  -