Men Pay for Marriage; Women Pay for Divorce
Some time ago an economic study revealed that women who divorce see their standard of living fall by 27 percent, while men see theirs rise by 10 percent. The usual bluestocking saw this as a terrible example of discrimination against women; what they didn’t note is that marriage penalises men. A fellow could see his standard of living jump 10% just by getting a divorce. Given that men stay married, and given that we tend to be rational creatures, there must be a good reason that men marry.
Apparently it’s worth it to a fellow to be married, and so he pays his wife by allowing her to consume more than she would otherwise earn. The flip side, of course, is that women must not enjoy marriage: else why would there be a need to pay them to stick around? Very interesting thought.
