Learnin’ about Marriage
Marriage as Complementary Consumption Preferences
From the article:
Translated, this means that in a modern society where people are “more different” from one another than they were, I would argue, pre-capitalism, it is harder to find a marital partner whose personality and, as Wolfers and Stephenson argue, consumption preferences, are sufficiently complementary to yours to render the person “marriageable.”
Folks can afford to be this picky because they don’t need marriage to survive economically, just to make them happy. That, I would argue, is a Good Thing.
I thought it was just about the convenient sex.
sage said,
April 3, 2008
Do this mean marriage is about consuming your partner? Are we not supposed to be cannibals?
Didn’t they used to call pneumonia consumption or something similar? Maybe that’s what marriage is about!
Clamcheese said,
April 3, 2008
That’s just silly. Everyone knows married people don’t have sex. Women just use sex to get guys to marry them.
sloth said,
April 4, 2008
Shh. Don’t tell my wife that married people don’t have sex. I’ve managed to keep that from her so far.
sage said,
April 7, 2008
Eh, I think sometimes it’s one of the partners who isn’t getting sex in a marriage. The other one is doing just fine. Just ask Clammy.
Clamcheese said,
April 8, 2008
Yes, yes she is. She doesn’t need to change a thing.