Economics of Polygamy

What would happen when people can have more than one married spouse?

1. Polygyny: First of all, there would be more polygyny (man having multiple wives) than polyandry (woman having many husbands). This can be observed in the animal kingdom and in several human societies. The majority of women would still depend on one man for fertility and security.

2. Good for women: If polygyny outweighs polyandry, then the demand for women spouses goes up in the marriage market. Men will be looking for multiple wives, while women aren’t that eager to have multiple husbands. This leaves a shortage of wives. As a whole women would be more in demand and men would be hurt by this structure.

3. Bad for low-status men: But of course, there are different winners and losers in the marriage market. The biggest losers would be men who have little to offer in the marriage market. They would probably have found a spouse in a monogamous system but will now have a hard time. The women a low-status male would be married to in today's society would probably be the 3rd wife of a high-status male in a polygamous society.

4. Bad for high-status females: Another loser from this system would be women who previously had a lot to offer on the marriage market. Well educated, beautiful and high-status women now have to compete against a collective of women. A desired woman with great features can out compete medium-status women individually but might not be able to do so collectively. Thus, her bargaining power with high status men is lowered, since they have a substitute to high-status women: 3 medium-status wives.

5. Bad for young men: Also, younger males would be less likely to marry. The ability of wealthy, and mature men having multiple wives will result in women rather marrying into an existing wealthy “family” as 2nd or 3rd wife rather than marrying an inexperienced young man.

6. More prostitution: Thus, there will be an especially high inequality among young males and females. This leaves an excess supply of men in their sexual peak with no partners. One can expect a rise in prostitution.

7. Low university education rates for females: If we expect women to get married at a young age to older men we also expect a decrease in higher education for women. They enter the world of household production way earlier which is a substitute for possible future market labour production.

8. Other: Lastly there would be more kids, more stringent marriage contracts, more divorces, more patchwork families, and a million other variables that we cannot predict.

These are projections on loosely based assumptions. But I always think its fun to think through an economic model like the marriage market if the rules change. Further reading can be found in Treatise on the Family by Gary Becker, Sex and Reason by Richard Posner, and Uncommon Sense Chapter 3 (Polygamy) by Becker and Posner.