单偶制婚姻与欧佩克
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辉格 @ 2009-04-19 22:35  阅读(3,924)  评论 (8)   分类：未分类        

经济学家Steven Landsburg将单偶制婚姻与卡特尔组织（比如欧佩克）作了类比，有点意思：

Today, when my wife and I argue about who should do the dishes, we start from positions of roughly equal strength. If polygamy were legal, my wife could hint that she’s thought about leaving me to many Alan and Cindy down the block—and I might end up with dishpan hands.

. . . Antipolygamy laws are a textbook example of the theory of cartels. Producers, initially competitive, gather together in a conspiracy against the public or, more specifically, against their customers. They agree that each firm will restrict its output in an attempt to keep prices high. But a high price invites cheating, in the sense that each firm seeks to expand its own output beyond what is allowable under the agreement. Eventually, the cartel crumbles unless it is enforced by legal sanctions, and even then violations are legion.

That story, told in every economics textbook, is also the story of male producers in the romance industry. Initially fiercely competitive, they gather together in a conspiracy against their “customers”—the women to whom they offer their hands in marriage. The conspiracy consists of an agreement under which each man restricts his romantic endeavors in an attempt to increase the bargaining position of men in general. But the improved position of men invites cheating, in the sense that each man tries to court more women than allowed under the agreement. The cartel survives only because it is enforced by legal sanctions, and even so violations are legion.

（转摘自Steven Pinker：How The Mind Works）

按Landsburg的说法，单偶制是一种买方卡特尔（欧佩克是卖方卡特尔），它是男人之间的妥协，通过限制每个买家（男人）的购买量，来对付女人漫天要价，结果受损的是女人，比如，原本可以做李嘉诚三奶的，现在只好做某小职员的大奶了；和欧佩克一样，这种卡特尔总是面临作弊的破坏（因为作弊的诱惑太大了），必须借助强制力，并且即使有强制性规定也往往难以良好执行，确实如此。

对Landsburg的分析，我要补充一下，单偶制实际上奖励了漂亮女人，而损害了相貌平平或丑陋的女人，根据我对多妻制和女性第二性征的分析（参见《乳房的等级多偶制起源假说》及文内链接），男性对女性容貌的选择，实际上是在用质量换取数量，而之所以需要这种交换，就是因为其配偶数量被某种自然、生理或制度条件限制在其供养能力之下，当然，单偶制法律强化了这种限制，因而对质量的要求会更高——如果按供养能力我本来可以娶五个，现在被限制只能娶一个，我对质量的要求当然会大大提高，而这个质量就表现为容貌（某些情况下也可能表现为嫁妆）。

推论：设A为财富和权力差异度，B为多妻指数，那么，在一个社会中，A比B的比值越高，该社会的女性第二性征越发达。

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经济学家Steven Landsburg将单偶制婚姻与卡特尔组织（比如欧佩克）作了类比，有点意思：

Today, when my wife and I argue about who should do the dishes, we start from positions of roughly equal strength. If polygamy were legal, my wife could hint that she's thought about leaving me to many Alan and Cindy down the block—and I might end up with dishpan hands.

. . . Antipolygamy laws are a textbook example of the theory of cartels. Producers, initially competitive, gather together in a conspiracy against the public or, more specifically, against their customers. They agree that each firm will restrict its output in an attempt to keep prices high. But a high price invites cheating, in the sense that each firm seeks to expand its own output beyond what is allowable under the agreement. Eventually, the cartel crumbles unless it is enforced by legal sanctions, and even then violations are legion.

That story, told in every economics textbook, is also the story of male producers in the romance industry. Initially fiercely competitive, they gather together in a conspiracy against their "customers"—the women to whom they offer their hands in marriage. The conspiracy consists of an agreement under which each man restricts his romantic endeavors in an attempt to increase the bargaining position of men in general. But the improved position of men invites cheating, in the sense that each man tries to court more women than allowed under the agreement. The cartel survives only because it is enforced by legal sanctions, and even so violations are legion.

（转摘自Steven Pinker：How The Mind Works）

按Landsburg的说法，单偶制是一种买方卡特尔（欧佩克是卖方卡特尔），它是男人之间的妥协，通过限制每个买家（男人）的购买量，来对付女人漫天要价，结果受损的是女人，比如，原本可以做李嘉诚三奶的，现在只好做某小职员的大奶了；和欧佩克一样，这种卡特尔总是面临作弊的破坏（因为作弊的诱惑太大了），必须借助强制力，并且即使有强制性规定也往往难以良好执行，确实如此。

对Landsburg的分析，我要补充一下，单偶制实际上奖励了漂亮女人，而损害了相貌平平或丑陋的女人，根据我对多妻制和女性第二性征的分析（参见《乳房的等级多偶制起源假说》及文内链接），男性对女性容貌的选择，实际上是在用质量换取数量，而之所以需要这种交换，就是因为其配偶数量被某种自然、生理或制度条件限制在其供养能力之下，当然，单偶制法律强化了这种限制，因而对质量的要求会更高——如果按供养能力我本来可以娶五个，现在被限制只能娶一个，我对质量的要求当然会大大提高，而这个质量就表现为容貌（某些情况下也可能表现为嫁妆）。

推论：设A为财富和权力差异度，B为多妻指数，那么，在一个社会中，A比B的比值越高，该社会的女性第二性征越发达。


已有8条评论

  1. 小橘子 @ 2012-03-19, 21:33 

    这篇文章里出现了AB差异度的比值与女性第二性征的关系。这与“财富权力的坡度与妻子数的坡度的相对大小”（设为C）对“男性的性选择强度与女性的性选择强度的比”（设为D）看起来类似，不过C怎么对D产生影响不如前者容易理解啊。

    [回复]

    辉格 回复:
    3月 20th, 2012 at 23:42

    我的意思是：高于最低等级的任何一个等级上的男性，当其目标配偶数（Ns）系统性的小于其拥有的资源所能供养的配偶数（Na）时，便存在逆向性选择（男选女）的压力，Na/Ns越大，该选择压力越大，而这一比值，显然我说的“两个坡度的相对大小”直接相关。

    [回复]

    小橘子 回复:
    3月 20th, 2012 at 23:59

    哦。你说的是这个问题。那天我在考虑等级多妻对男性和女性造成的选择压力差别。

    [回复]

  2. 小橘子 @ 2012-07-17, 00:07 

    那种族的女性容貌离散度，也可以预测该种族的单偶制历史了吧？

    [回复]

    辉格 回复:
    7月 17th, 2012 at 11:34

    我觉得是

    [回复]

    没有名字 回复:
    1月 3rd, 2013 at 06:03

    能否举个例子解释下

    [回复]

    辉格 回复:
    1月 3rd, 2013 at 14:14

    我觉得阿拉伯各国男女的容貌相似度就比欧洲高，我猜跟配偶制和与之相应的遗传机会分配结构有关系，不过这只是直觉猜测，似乎还没有这方面的实证研究。

    [回复]

  3. 闷豆 @ 2013-02-20, 16:27 

    婚姻是一夫一妻，但是不阻止男人包二奶，搞婚外情；也不阻止男人结3次婚，每次婚姻都跟不同的老婆生孩子组建家庭最后一共有3个家庭。这些都不违法。

    顺便问下，一夫一妻嘉奖美丽的女人。这个美丽跟年龄关系有多大？如果一个女的到了35岁但是看上去只有23岁，这是否能弥补她实际还是老了的事实于是即便美丽还是没有吸引力？

    还有女人的事业成功和智力对男人是否有吸引力？还是女人吸引男的主要靠长相，至于事业学业啥的并不重要？

    [回复]

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