Primogeniture, Monogamy, and Reproductive Success in a Stratified Society

Ted Bergstrom ()

No 1994B, University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series from Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara

Abstract: This paper explores the workings of stratified societies in which there is primogeniture and where the nobility practice monogamous marriage with a double standard of sexual fidelity. We model a simple stratified society and define the reproductive values of the male and female nobility relative to that of commoners. We then explore implications of the hypothesis that preferences have evolved to favor maximization of reproductive value. The hypothesis is tested against fragmentary data from ancient civilizations and quite detailed information about the British aristocracy in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.

Keywords: primogeniture; british nobility; reproductive success; monogamy; dowry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: Written
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Related works:
Working Paper: Primogeniture, Monogamy, and Reproductive Success in a Stratified Society
Working Paper: Primogeniture, Monogamy and Reproductive Success in a Stratified Society
Working Paper: Primogeniture, Monogamy, and Reproductive Success in a Stratified Society
Working Paper: Primogeniture, Monogamy and Reproductive Success in a Stratified Society (1994)
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