17 Comments

Great post. The value proposition for women to get married is weak since women can increasingly find love, financial stability, and social approval without marriage. You address many reasons for why people aren't getting married, but I would add that marriage as an institution has long been associated with religion and conservative values, the global rise of nonbelievers and people with no religious affiliation may be contributing to the rejection of marriage. Additionally, it seems like the recent rise of tyrannical leaders and challenges to women's rights (like Roe being overturned in the US) has created skepticism and concerns about how the government may use marriage to further restrict the independence of women.

Expand full comment

There is no evidence that high status men have become less infidel over last 40 years ( Ms Melanie Trump/ Ms Clinton ), yet are married in high number . The women in these cases are economically independent , don't wanna let go high status man .

Love/devotion ( soul mate ) is bullshit. People can delude (fool) themselves anything that help their reproductive success ( Trivers book - folly of fools ) . Love itself is evo adaptation . Anyways , infidelity rates are high ( Buss ).

Lack of men higher in status than women in economic and educational sphere ( feminist revolution ) and open sexual environment ( nothing barred ) is a major factor

Natural state of homo sapiens in polygny , I think with AIwe are reverting back

Our ancestors were polygynous until about three hundred thousand years ago, primarily monogamous until about ten thousand years ago, primarily polygynous again until about two thousand years ago, and primarily monogamous since then.”

Expand full comment

Thank you for yet another fascinating post.

Expand full comment

Interesting piece, as always!

A small clarification: are positive/negative feedbacks defined in your field in terms of the desirability of their outcome? In the usage I'm familiar with, the loop you describe would be a positive feedback loop (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_feedback), in that it amplifies itself. A negative feedback loop would be stabilising, in that a small change causes a counter-acting response and the system returns to something close to its original state.

Expand full comment

Jika ada yang suka dengan laki laki sama yang aku suka , ambil lah silahkan , emnk anda tau saya suka nya dengan siapa,,harta ku banyak gak perduli lelaki haha tapi bohong🤪bukti saya banyak jadi gak perlu empati,saya genius , mungkin kah saya memilih lelaki yg pikiran nya sama sekali tidak memiliki pendidikan yang didikan jauh dari setara saya , hahaha sombong dikit boleh ya.

Expand full comment

Saya adalah sebuah single woman atau ladis single , bukan lady companion,berarti saya adalah LS bukan LC😆LS adalah ladis single ( langsung siaran ) ,saya bukan LC ( lady companion ) walaupun saya memiliki serifikat LLC sebagai ( linear Linux code's

Expand full comment

Excellent piece like usual,

I would add if Women’s financial security is a key driver (I agree as the data is obvious). Then their game theory optionality has increased dramatically the last 40yrs.

So, what an option is in 1970 v 1940 v. 1995 v 2024 are radically different.

The requirements to be met in 2024 for a mean distro education attainment i.e. BS/BA degree women 35 and under (hetro or not) requires a list with substantial quality of candidate.

This candidate must meet a battery, matrix of candidate qualities across a massive range of variables maybe 3-10x larger then 30-80 yrs ago..

My worthless .02 guess is that it will shake out 80/20.. like all things in the universe:)

Top 20% will match across demos & have massive gains while 80% will fight it out for the remaining best candidates, with the next 20% doing above avg. better.

the bottom 60% will have very poor gains that are attributed to marriage benefits .

once again thank you for your great discussion on this.

Because of all this, maybe 70-90% of pair candidates are excluded given their readiness, performance.

Expand full comment

Finally , Prof Alice is reading some evo psych stuff .

Humans are pair bonding species and have innate desire for connection.

So future stocks for cat food and depressive med look bright

Expand full comment

Do you have a theory of why (in the US at least, not sure about elsewhere) marriage rates are higher among the middle and upper class of earners than the poor? Social pressure can't be that much higher for the better off. Do you people with financial stability just fall in love more?

Expand full comment

Would this solidify the demographic transitions that are happening or have happened in this countries?

Expand full comment

> If secularisation outpaces gender equality, marriage rates fall.

The paragraph below just supports the claim that secularization reduces marriage rates, without any note that gender equality growing faster than secularization can prevent this. Particularly since you note that gender parity in earnings also reduces marriage rates.

Expand full comment

marriage rates tend to fall with secularisation, individualism and gender parity in earnings?

China was always been secular and has enjoyed educational and earnings parity since 1951, but it's hardly individualistic. Indeed, if the PRC can stabilize the population, it will be a tribute to communalism.

Expand full comment