The economics of love

Economics is based on a hypothetical rational (wo)man ? or at least was until behavioral economics came along. Homo economicus is sort of like a supercomputer ? always calculating lifetime welfare, costs, profits, etc. Like Star Trek?s Mr. Spock, (s)he never lets emotions get in the way. You would therefore not expect economists to take on love.

Quite the contrary: The late Gary Becker, who revolutionized economics by ?extending the domain of microeconomic analysis to a wide range of human behavior and interaction, including nonmarket behavior,? as summarized by the Nobel committee?s justification for awarding him the economics prize in 1992, wrote about the economics of love and marriage as well.

His approach was naturally based on rational individuals. According to him, people tie the knot because they get higher satisfaction (utility) from getting married than remaining single. There is a marriage market in the sense that men and women compete as they seek mates; each person tries to find the best mate subject to market conditions.

Many other economists have taken on love after Becker, following on his footsteps. For example, wondering whether economists could be romantic, I stumbled upon a book titled ?The Romantic Economist: A Story of Love and Market Forces.? According to the author, one William Nicolson, it is the story of how he tried to use economic theory to save his floundering love life.

Googling the author?s name revealed an article he had written for Time on Valentine?s Day in 2014: ?10 Lessons from an Economist on Love.? I don?t have enough space to go over all of them, but here?s a summary of three of his most interesting lessons ? and how your friendly neighborhood economist, recently happily enamored, feels about...