Material vs. spiritual--A novel economics perspective on marriage and divorce

Xuemei Liu

Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), 2008, vol. 37, issue 6, 2330-2339

Abstract: By dividing household-produced commodities into material and spiritual goods, and incorporating Maslow's psychological theory of motivation into this economic framework, I explore why individuals with different preferences choose different mates, and how the drive to enter marriage has changed as society becomes more developed. I then study the optimal effort for individuals to devote to marriage. I argue that divorce is mainly caused by the reduction of effort that couples devote to marriage, which might be a rational decision in response to changes in preferences, household productivity, and the opportunity cost of effort.

Keywords: Spiritual; goods; Material; goods; Effort; Marriage; Divorce (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:soceco:v:37:y:2008:i:6:p:2330-2339

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