the future of marriage

[alocispepraluger102]

http://www.cato-unbound.org/wp-print.php?p=640

[The Magnificent Goldberg]

Very uneven article. She starts by talking about the whole history of the whole world, then pretty suddenly jumps to America in recent times (post Industrial Revolution) as if all there was to say could be encapsulated within that measly framework.

In present day West Africa, among the Mandinke and a number of other peoples, a man may have up to four wives. The first economic catch is that he has to bear the entire costs of the family and children. If one of the wives works and earns money, that is HERS, not the family's. She cannot be compelled to use it for any family purpose. (And we say Islamic countries treat women badly.) (And the second economic catch is that a man's property is not inherited by his children but by the son(s) of his sister(s).)

The end result of these arrangements is that there are fewer children, since there have to be a lot of men who don't get wives; one man with four wives can afford fewer children than that man and any three other men with one wife each. (And the inheritances of the single men go to other men's kids.)

And arranged marriages are common there. And so are non-arranged marriages. So?

MG