Previous work on domestic violence has focused on the woman's threat point to leave violent relationships, and the impact of variables such as income on this threat point. She has a credible threat to leave if her utility outside the relationship is at least as great as that achieved by staying....

Non-marital cohabitation is a rapidly growing global phenomenon. Prior literature examines the puzzling empirical regularity that premarital cohabitation is associated with higher divorce rates. Since cohabitation should yield improved match-quality information, one might expect the opposite....