Mating (marriage) patterns and economic development

Abstract

This paper looks at the relationship between economic development and mating (marriage) patterns in the very long run. For this purpose we introduce the Goldin and the Kuznets curves which relate female labour and income inequality with economic development respectively. To some extent, the Goldin and the Kuznets curves have followed opposite paths, which in turn, could illustrate how economic development has had an impact on mating (marriage) patterns, and thus household formation. The likely convergence in mating patterns among hunter–gatherers across societies vanished after the Neolithic revolution. Then, African polygyny and the ‘European’ marriage pattern developed into the most significant exceptions to the traditional dictate of nature “an early attachment to one woman” (Malthus, 1798: pp. 15). Nowadays, monogamy and late attachments have become the norm rather than an exception.

Keywords:

• Marriage patterns
• Female labour
• Income inequality
• Economic development