On the Economics of Polygyny

Ted Bergstrom ()

Papers from University of Michigan, Department of Economics

Abstract: About 80\% of all societies recorded by anthropologists are polygynous (men have many wives). Even our own society is less monogamous than claimed. This paper attempts to explain such mysteries as why bride prices and dowries are not ``opposites'', why polygamous societies are usually characterized by positive bride prices and dowry is mainly confined to monogamous societies, why polyandry (women having multiple husbands) is rare, but not extinct,and why the more you have to pay for a wife the better you will treat her.

Date: 1994
Note: application/postscript file submitted via ftp in compressed format.
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (29)

Published in the Handbook in Population Economic.

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.econ.ucsb.edu/~tedb/Evolution/polygyny3.ps (application/postscript)

Related works:
Working Paper: On the Economics of Polygyny (1994)
Working Paper: On the Economics of Polygyny
Working Paper: On the Economic of Polygyny
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:wop:michec:_026

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Papers from University of Michigan, Department of Economics Ann Arbor Mi, 48109. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Thomas Krichel ().