[gakada]

It seems that marriages in capitalist societies are inherently unstable. If rights are equal, then women are incentivised to divorce to "cash in" the value of their husband. If the rights are unequal, then men are incentivised to divorce to "trade up" to a more attractive wife.

It's only agrarian societies that manage to make husband and wife dependent enough on each other that divorce is a bad option for everybody.

[srtjstjsj]

This is where lawyers help! By soaking up all the marital funds in a divorce, lawyers remove the profit incentive of leaving a partner.

[antisthenes]

That's a pretty dark take on the situation, but knowing a few people who have gone through divorce, pretty accurate.

Didn't stop them in the end though.

[dpark]

> If rights are equal, then women are incentivised to divorce to "cash in" the value of their husband.

This only applies if earning potential between women and men is wildly disparate. When women can and do earn as much as men, the "cashing in" factor largely goes away.

[Godel_unicode]

Source:

http://info.legalzoom.com/happens-divorce-couples-earn-same-...

[arcticfox]

I think this is a problem if the actual net worth is significantly different between partners, not earning potential.

[dpark]

Sure, but the same logic applies. If your main concern is someone taking your money in a divorce, marry someone who has similar net worth.

[srtjstjsj]

For most people, earning potential is 99% of lifetime net worth. The vagaries of the aristoracy aren't that interesting.