The Mystery of Monogamy

Eric Gould, Omer Moav () and Avi Simhon

American Economic Review, 2008, vol. 98, issue 1, 333-57

Abstract: We examine why developed societies are monogamous while rich men throughout history have typically practiced polygyny. Wealth inequality naturally produces multiple wives for rich men in a standard model of the marriage market. However, we demonstrate that higher female inequality in the marriage market reduces polygyny. Moreover, we show that female inequality increases in the process of development as women are valued more for the quality of their children than for the quantity. Consequently, male inequality generates inequality in the number of wives per man in traditional societies, but manifests itself as inequality in the quality of wives in developed societies. (JEL J12, J16, J24, Z13)

JEL-codes: J12 J16 J24 Z13 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.98.1.333
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (53)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.98.1.333 (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.

Related works:
Working Paper: The Mystery of Monogamy (2005)
Working Paper: The Mystery of Monogamy (2004)
Working Paper: THE MYSTERY OF MONOGAMY (2003)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:98:y:2008:i:1:p:333-57

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.aeaweb.org/journals/subscriptions

Access Statistics for this article

American Economic Review is currently edited by Esther Duflo

More articles in American Economic Review from American Economic Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Michael P. Albert ().