Worthwhile Canadian Initiative

How can son preference persist?

In much of North Eastern India, there are 915 or fewer girls for every thousand boys - a sex ratio of more than 1.09 boys per girl. The persistence of such high sex ratios is puzzling, because it violates Fisher's Principle.

In most species, the ratio of males to females is approximately one to one. Fisher's principle explains why. In a society with fewer females than males, females achieve, on average, greater reproductive success than a typical male. Accordingly, any inheritable tendency that predisposes parents to producing females spreads. The number of females rises until, eventually, equality between males and females is restored.

So how can son preference persist?

The macroeconomics of Big Wedding cultures

How do you build a macroeconomic model of a "Big Wedding" culture? Do Big Wedding cultures spend too much on consumption and too little on saving and investment? If so, what's cause and what's effect?

I don't know the answer. I don't even really need to know the answer. But this question has been stuck in my mind for the past couple of days, so I'm writing this for self-therapy.

Questions always come from somewhere. Here's where this one came from.

For better or for worse - or for insurance coverage?

One of the puzzling things about the United States is its extraordinarily high marriage rate. Among OECD countries, only Turkey and Cyprus have a higher rate of marriage (Source, OECD).

Wife jokes as an indicator of marital discord

Last night I was watching a Best of Dave Allen DVD.  I like the funny wordplay, but some of the wife jokes are lame.

A wife joke is a joke like this one:

"First guy (proudly): "My wife's an angel!" Second guy: "You're lucky, mine's still alive."