Economics of Love and Marriage - Research Proposal Example

Economics of love and marriage of the of the Introduction The concepts of love and marriage are deemed to be emotion related concepts among human beings. However, the increasing number of changes noticed in the real world incidents of marriage, love and divorce have made the researchers much interested in this area of study. It has been found out by many scholars and researchers that the aspects of love and marriage can be explained through the use of different existing principles of economics. The principles of economics can be used to explain the reasons why people fall in love get married as well as often get divorced. Along with the emotional and psychological dimensions there are also certain economic principles involved with the behaviors of human beings in love, marriage and other such relationships. Some economists argue that the reasons why people fall in love, get married and get divorced are often similar in many ways. The aspects of financial and emotional security are not the only dimensions of love and marriage that can be explained through the economics discipline. The motivations, reasons, purpose and need of love and marriages can also be explained through different theories of economics. Some key principles of economics can be applied to the intangible behavioral aspects like marriage, relationships and love. Therefore, the basic objective of this study is to explain the various dynamics of love and marriage through the use of an analysis made from the point of view of the economics discipline. Research question The research is conducted with the aim of identifying whether the principles and theories of economics can be applied to the psychological and social concepts like love and marriage among human beings. Therefore, the primary research question formulated for the study is “What can be the economic analysis and explanation for human relations like love and marriage?” Other secondary research questions formulated for the study include: What are the reasons for people falling in love and getting married? What are the main motivations for people to stay in long term relationships and marriages? What are the main reasons for divorces in marriages? Which factors are the positive contributors and which are the negative contributors to relationships like love and marriage? All these research questions are aimed to be answered through the application of the theories and principles of economics with reference to a relevant article and real world examples. To evaluate the economic principles of love and marriage a recent news article is selected which is then analyzed and studied with the goal of understanding the application of the principles of economics in the behavior of human beings in establishing relationships. The selected article is “Love, marriage, and divorce: what’s economics got to do with it?” by Abhinay Muthoo. This article has been published in the Bulletin of the Economics Research Institute in the year 2009. The selected article is refereed to and discussed so as to answer the above formulated research questions in a relevant and appropriate manner. Finding and Analysis Economics is a significant academic discipline that can be weighed in for explaining and identifying the behavioral reasons and causes of human beings in love and marriage relationships. The role of economics as an academic discipline has become more prominent over the years, particularly in the background of the critical changes that have been recognized in love relationships, marriages and divorces in the last few decades. Love is often believed to have an important connection with the establishment of marital relationships. Mostly human beings tend to marry someone for whom he/she feels some kind of love and affection. It is a legitimate question that why a human being often marries a person whom he/she loves rather than marrying a person who has similar tastes and preferences and marrying whom would lead to some kind of financial or material benefits. This question can be answered through the concept of conflicts of interest. Love as a psychological factor minimizes the chances of conflicts of interest in relationships. Therefore, most often human beings prefer to bring love in a relationship so that the chances of conflicts of interest are reduced and subsequently the bargaining costs associated with these conflicts are avoided. Apart from this, convenience and ease of living, mutual benefits and satisfaction are other significant reasons why people establish long term marriage and love relationships. The behaviors demonstrated by altruists and beneficiaries are often significant in love and marriage where the altruist partner feels more contentment and fulfillment by satisfying the needs of another. Similarly, the beneficiary partner feels more content and emotionally satisfied when they receive different kinds of physical, emotional as well as material benefits from the altruist. Most commonly, a successful marriage or love relationship is developed when one of the spouses displays altruism and the other displays the behaviors of a beneficiary. The economic approach to marriage explains that marriage can be seen as a contract or as a mutually beneficial relationship (Ambert, 2006, pp.106-108). When marriage is seen as a contract between two persons as well as between two families there are three most critical factors that are to be considered. These are explained as follows: Firstly, marriage as a contract or transaction is much cost incurring in terms of effort, time and finances to enter into or to exit from. This means that the utility that is derived from marriage should be more than the utility that can be derived in return of the costs that are involved in getting married or even in getting divorced. Secondly, the nature of these transactions or contracts varies across different countries, time periods and religions. The marital obligations, principles and rules are greatly differentiated among different communities, countries and have also experienced stark changes over decades of human civilization. However, the primary needs of human beings, the social acceptance need and the need of being loved are still the most common drivers of marriages. On the other hand, financial difficulties, incompatibility and negligence or violation of marital obligations like clothing, food and sexual relations are the main drivers of divorces across all types of religions and countries. Thirdly, divorce is seen as a method of dissolution of the transaction or contract of marriage which involves a number of financial obligations between the husband and wife. These financial obligations are significant because they are legally enforceable. The main reasons for the involvement of financial obligations into marriage are to support the children of the married couple who have been issued form the marriage, to compensate for the mental and psychological damages caused by the breaking of a socially acknowledged relationship or for punishing any type of unacceptable behavior that is violating the terms and contractual obligations set for the marriage. Another way of explaining marriage from an economics approach is that a marriage can be seen as a firm. When marriage is denoted as a firm, it involves the exchange of certain benefits and responsibilities between the two parties involved. This is a distinct type of deal in which the two parties involved mutually agree to share housing, sexual favors, income, expenditure as well as different kinds of productive activities like cooking meals, rearing children and other household activities. When analyzed from this point of view, it can be identified that the main motivation for marriage is the achievement of the economies of scale in production within the household. The advantage of the division of effort, time, energy, money and labor is seen as a main motivating factor in the concept of marriage as a firm. The economy of scale is achieved because it is often easier to complete the household works when two parties give their combined efforts. Also, the sharing of income and responsibilities makes it possible to achieve better productivity, efficiency and ease in the daily activities necessary for household production. Therefore, marriage can be described as a firm which is managed by a husband and a wife who makes it a two-person firm (Becker, 2008, p.214). The purchase of products and services like meals, domestic cleaning, child rearing, education etc. from the market would be much difficult and cost incurring. One of the main reasons for the establishment of long term relationships of love and marriage is the existence of the transaction costs in these kinds of relationships. The incentive to look after a family and a house is more when it is one’s own. Therefore, these automatically lower the transaction costs associated with the household production and other activities. Another main driver of marriages is specialization. Often the two people involved in love or marital relationships are likely to consider the preferences of each other and thus become more proficient in understanding and responding to the physical, psychological as well as the social needs of each other. As explained in the selected article, the household goods and children are two main forms of marital surplus which are necessary for the human beings to satisfy their basic physiological and psychological requirements. According to Figure 1, if G denotes public goods that are consumed by two persons in a marriage and X denotes the private goods which are consumed by an individual then the budgetary constraints involved in marriage can be explained through the principles of economics. If a couple live together, and then the cost per person (G) is reduced to half because it is shared by two people. On the other hand, if they live apart, then the budget constraints as denoted by AB would be faced. Therefore, if they live in a marital relationship then the new budget constraint would be much lower denoted by CB. This would mean that the marriage surplus is a positive factor for consumer satisfaction as well as budget considerations in marriages. Figure 1 (Source: Becker, 2008, p.207). Thus, the marital surplus and other benefits which a person cannot achieve when he/ she is single are important because the human beings want to secure the access to the ways of fulfilling their emotional, physical, psychological as well as financial needs through socially and mutually accepted and mutually beneficial relationships like love relationships, marriages etc. (Muthoo, 2009, p.4). The return on investment from love and marital relationships are also important considerations in marriages. According to the view of many psychologists, economists and other experts, human beings feel the need for boosting the combined resources in a marriage and allocating them in an optimal and intelligent manner so that they can get higher and better returns on their investment in love and marriages in the short term as well as the long term. Conclusion Marriage had started as a way of satisfying the need for economic capital because it initially involved the exchange of economic capital between two parties. Over decades the expression of marriage and love has shifted from the foray of financial and social gains to psychological and physical gains. However, the factors like reduction of the conflicts of interest, increase in household productivity, children and household products as significant marital surplus and the sharing of responsibilities have remained significant from the age old love and marriages to the modern day marital relationships. The exchange of economic capitals and gains are not the only factors in marriage but concepts of economics like the achievement of economics of scale through combined efforts, minimization of conflicts, budgetary constraints and consumer satisfaction explained through the indifference curve have also become equally important in love and marital relationships. References Ambert, A. M. (2006). Changing Families: Relationships in Context. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada Inc. Becker, G. (2008). A Treatise on the Family, 8th Ed. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. Muthoo, A.( 2009). Bulletin of the Economics Research Institute. Retrieved from :http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/eri/bulletin/0910_no_1_print_format.pdf. Read More