Economics of marriage
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ToursExplore Lably’s 3D toursEconomic origins of marriage
Richard Wrangham puts forward the view that women cooking for men is fundamental to marriage in hunter-gatherer societies.
Many such examples suggest that the mating system is constrained by the way species are socially adapted to their food supply. ... The consequence of man's economic dependence takes different forms in different societies, but recall that according to Jane Collier and Michelle Rosaldo, his needing a wife to provide food is universal among hunter-gatherers. Food, it seems, routinely drives a man's marriage decision more than the need for a sexual partner.
This extends to men stealing women.
Among the Inuit, where a woman contributed no food calories, her cooking and production of warm, dry hunting clothes were vital: a man cannot both hunt and cook. The pressure could drive widowers or bachelors to neighboring territories in an attempt to steal a woman, even if it meant killing her husband. The problem was so pervasive that ... unfamiliar men would normally be killed even before questions were asked. Lust was not the motivation for stealing wives. "The vital importance of a wife to perform domestic services provided the most usual motive for abduction," according to ethnographer David Riches.
Jeremy Greenwood and Nezih Guner (2009) argue that technological progress in the household sector, say due to the advent of dishwashers, frozen foods, vacuum cleaners, washing machines, tupperware, etc. has reduced the need for labor in the home. As a result, it is much easier to live alone. This has resulted in a smaller fraction of the population being married and a higher rate of divorce.
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Legislation and reform of marriage
Uniform Marital Property Act
Traditional asset division system stated that what a spouse owns before marriage or personal earnings during marriage are considered as separated property. Uniform Marital Property（UMPA)，a marital law that was first passed by the Uniform Law Commissioners in 1983, considered a family as an economic entity. Each spouse owns half of the marital property and their individual property, which includes property before marriage and individual income such as gifts from a third person or added value on individual property before marriage. If there is uncertainty on ownership, the property will be considered as a community property. Both spouses have the responsibility to protect their marital property. So far, only Wisconsin has adopted UMPA, and suggestions have been made by which to revise UMPA before it is adopted in any other state.
Uniform Premarital Agreements Act
Premarital agreement is an agreement that two individuals signed to distribute marital rights and obligations of each individual during marriage, after divorce, or death of one spouse. Uniform Premarital Agreements Act (UPAA) was issued by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) in 1983 and has been employed by 27 states. It includes rights and duties responsible to determine when and where a premarital agreement is practicable. It requires the premarital agreement to be in writing and signed by both spouses. UPAA also record that a party must fairly disclose his or her property to another party if he or she wants to enforce the premarital agreement. The adoption of UPAA differentiated in each individual states.
Spier (1992) has pointed out that there may be fewer prenuptial agreements than would be socially optimal. The reason is that if you ask your fiancée to sign such an agreement, you might signal that you fear that the probability of divorce will be larger than your fiancée would have thought otherwise. Smith (2003) provides a survey of the law and economics literature on marriage contracts.
Further references
- Becker, G. (1974) "A theory of marriage", in: T. W. Schultz, ed., Economics of the family. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 293–344.
- Engels, F (1884). The Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State: in the light of the researches of Lewis H. Morgan is a historical materialist treatise.
- Himmelweit, S. and Mohun, S. (1977) “Domestic Labor and Capital.” Cambridge Journal of Economics vol 1:15–31.
- Manser, Marilyn and Murray Brown (1980). "Marriage and Household Decision Making: a Bargaining Analysis." International Economic Review 21:31–44.
- McElroy, Marjorie B. and M.J. Horney (1981). "Nash Bargained Household Decisions: Toward a Generalization of the Theory of Demand." International Economic Review 22:333–49.