Very good parts of very good sentences

So what drives modern marriage? We believe that the answer lies in a shift from the family as a forum for shared production, to shared consumption. In case the language of economic lacks romance, let’s be clearer: modern marriage is about love and companionship. Most things in life are simply better shared with another person: this ranges from the simple pleasures such as enjoying a movie or a hobby together, to shared social ties such as attending the same church, and finally, to the joint project of bringing up children. Returning to the language of economics, the key today is consumption complementarities — activities that are not only enjoyable, but are more enjoyable when shared with a spouse. We call this new model of sharing our lives “hedonic marriage†.

Other than bringing up children, though, it’s not clear to me why any of this would even drive people to get married in the first place. Unlike the “specialisation” marriage, where the parties complement each other to increase total productivity — there the impetus to marry is pretty clear — all those things are basically things you can do or enjoy with your friends. Whether or not you happen to be married to them.

I also wonder whether this:

On the flipside, the decline in marriage among less-educated women would be an important concern if we were still in the world where women needed a husband for financial security. Less educated women have their own market opportunities available to them and have less to gain from marrying today than in the past.

isn’t skipping over a rather messier demographic picture. Sure less-educated women have their market opportunities. But the last I saw, there was still a good correlation between marriage and financial well-being. There may be issues with the direction of causation (e.g. rich people able to make it fine on their own nevertheless decide to marry in greater numbers so they can have a buddy to watch movies with?) but the result suggests, at least, that we may still be in the world where women — especially poor women — benefit from having a husband for financial stability. And where husbands, to be fair, benefit too.

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