ECONOMICS is based on the belief that humans are rational. Therefore, we should not expect economists to discuss “irrational” subjects, such as love and marriage.

The late Gary Stanley Becker begged to differ, however. He revolutionized economics by applying microeconomic analysis to a wider range of human behavior and interaction including — you’ve guessed it — love and marriage. In a series of research papers in the 1970s, Becker laid out the framework for analyzing love and marriage. He showed that what seemed to be irrational life choices could be explained by rational choice theory. For a while, social scientists initially ignored, then mocked Becker’s ideas on the nature of marriage before finally accepting it. In 1992, he won the Nobel prize for economics.

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