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Rational Choice and the Price of Marriage

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Author Info
Robert Cherry
Abstract

This paper accepts the thesis that marriage decisions reflect rational behavior based on weighing benefits and costs. It develops a concept of a marriage price that measures the excess services one spouse provides to the other when there are differences in the number of men and women seeking marriage partners. This price includes income, time allocation to household activities, and control over forms of intimacy and beauty styles. In contrast to Grossbard-Shechtman's strict choice model, this model highlights the patriarchal privileges of husbands. It identifies some of the factors which affect marriage price in the United States and assesses the impact of recent U.S. governmental initiatives to increase marriage rates, including the male employment proposals made by William Julius Wilson. The theoretical model developed here shows that proposals that increase the personal value women place on marriage raise the marriage price they must pay, as well as increasing marriage rates.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Taylor and Francis Journals in its journal Feminist Economics.

Volume (Year): 4 (1998)
Issue (Month): 1 (March)
Pages: 27-49
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Handle: RePEc:taf:femeco:v:4:y:1998:i:1:p:27-49

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Related research
Keywords: Rational Choice; Marriage; Patriarchy;

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Rebecca Blank, 1995. "Teen pregnancy: government programs are not the cause," Feminist Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 1(2), pages 47-58, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. David Good & Maureen Pirog-Good, 1987. "A simultaneous probit model of crime and employment for black and white teenage males," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 109-127, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Grossbard-Shechtman, Shoshana Amyra, 1984. "A Theory of Allocation of Time in Markets for Labour and Marriage," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 94(376), pages 863-82, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Nelson, Julie A, 1994. "I, Thou, and Them: Capabilities, Altruism, and Norms in the Economics of Marriage," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 126-31, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Folbre, Nancy, 1982. "Exploitation Comes Home: A Critique of the Marxian Theory of Family Labour," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 6(4), pages 317-29, December.
  6. Grossbard-Shechtman, Shoshana Amyra & Neuman, Shoshana, 1988. "Women's Labor Supply and Marital Choice," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 96(6), pages 1294-1302, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Barbara Bergmann, 1995. "Becker's theory of the family: Preposterous conclusions," Feminist Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 141-150, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Lundberg, Shelly & Pollak, Robert A, 1996. "Bargaining and Distribution in Marriage," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 10(4), pages 139-58, Fall. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. repec:ese:iserwp: is not listed on IDEAS
  2. Jennifer C. Olmsted, 2002. "Assessing The Impact Of Religion On Gender Status," Feminist Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 99-111, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Shoshana Grossbard-Shechtman, 2001. "The New Home Economics At Colombia And Chicago," Feminist Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 7(3), pages 103-130, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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