Absent laws and missing women: Can domestic violence legislation reduce female mortality?

• Published in: Review of development economics Vol. 25; no. 4; pp. 2113 - 2132
• Main Authors: Amin, Mohammad, Islam, Asif M., Lopez‐Claros, Augusto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-11-2021
• Subjects: Domestic violence; gender; Intimacy; laws; Legislation; Mortality; women
• ISSN: 1363-6669; 1467-9361
• DOI: 10.1111/rode.12799

This study explores the relationship between the presence of domestic violence legislation and the adult mortality of women relative to men. Using a panel of 159 economies between 1990 and 2014, domestic violence legislation is found to be associated with a lower women‐to‐men adult mortality ratio. The most conservative estimate suggests a 2.3% decline relative to the mean sample value. These findings are extended to show that domestic violence legislation is also negatively correlated with physical violence by intimate partners for a cross‐section of economies. Sensitivity analyses reveal that the findings are robust to different estimation methods and empirical specifications.