Economics of "Pro-Marriage" laws
Getting married is pretty easy. Yeah, blood tests, but you go to city hall, you get a license, you go to a ceremony, paper signed, you're married.
And this is exactly as the "pro-marriage" forces in the country would have it: If it were a pain in the ass to marry, folks would just choose to "live in sin". Marriage has a low barrier to entry. Easy in.
Getting divorced is very hard. Even when no one is fighting the process, you file, you have to exchange financial disclosure documents, you have to work out a settlement, and you have to wait 6 months before things can be done, at the soonest.
And this is exactly as the "pro-marriage" forces in the country would have it: Since it's a pain in the ass to get divorced, folks choose to live in misery. Marriage has a high barrier to exit. Tough out.
And this is all the structure you would put in place if the number you hope to keep high is the proportion of folks in society who are married. Easy in, tough out. Institutional lobster trap.
This same structure is what also keeps the proportion of divorced people high and marriage customer satisfaction scores low: The low barrier to entry means that many couples that don't belong in the institution enter it. Because many that don't belong in the institution enter it, many eventually discover their error and leave it. The high barrier to exit means that the remaining misfit multitudes never leave the institution, but remain miserable. So we get high divorce rates and a large population of unhappy married people. All beacue we make it easy for any two mouth-breathing yokels to sanctify their union. Which is not, I'd think, what the "pro-marriage" forces would want, if they truly want marriage to be this joyful, precious institution.
I'm all for making it harder to get married. Yeah, more 20-some things would shack up, and more kids would be born out of wedlock. So what? It matters little whether your parents were married when you were born. It matters whether your parents are together as you grow up. Never-married but present parents, in my mind, are better than previously married but absent parents.
I propose that one must apply for a license to be engaged, then have a year wait before one can get the marriage license. Like a learner's permit for a car, and like the cooling off period for divorces. It could work.
And this is exactly as the "pro-marriage" forces in the country would have it: If it were a pain in the ass to marry, folks would just choose to "live in sin". Marriage has a low barrier to entry. Easy in.
Getting divorced is very hard. Even when no one is fighting the process, you file, you have to exchange financial disclosure documents, you have to work out a settlement, and you have to wait 6 months before things can be done, at the soonest.
And this is exactly as the "pro-marriage" forces in the country would have it: Since it's a pain in the ass to get divorced, folks choose to live in misery. Marriage has a high barrier to exit. Tough out.
And this is all the structure you would put in place if the number you hope to keep high is the proportion of folks in society who are married. Easy in, tough out. Institutional lobster trap.
This same structure is what also keeps the proportion of divorced people high and marriage customer satisfaction scores low: The low barrier to entry means that many couples that don't belong in the institution enter it. Because many that don't belong in the institution enter it, many eventually discover their error and leave it. The high barrier to exit means that the remaining misfit multitudes never leave the institution, but remain miserable. So we get high divorce rates and a large population of unhappy married people. All beacue we make it easy for any two mouth-breathing yokels to sanctify their union. Which is not, I'd think, what the "pro-marriage" forces would want, if they truly want marriage to be this joyful, precious institution.
I'm all for making it harder to get married. Yeah, more 20-some things would shack up, and more kids would be born out of wedlock. So what? It matters little whether your parents were married when you were born. It matters whether your parents are together as you grow up. Never-married but present parents, in my mind, are better than previously married but absent parents.
I propose that one must apply for a license to be engaged, then have a year wait before one can get the marriage license. Like a learner's permit for a car, and like the cooling off period for divorces. It could work.
posted by Kenneth at 9:17 AM
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