单偶制婚姻与欧佩克

经济学家Steven Landsburg将单偶制婚姻与卡特尔组织（比如欧佩克）作了类比，有点意思： Today, when my wife and I argue about who should do the dishes, we start from positions of roughly equal strength. If polygamy were legal, my wife could hint that she's thought about leaving me to many Alan and Cindy down the block—and I might end up with dishpan hands. . . . Antipolygamy laws are a textbook example of the theory of cartels. Producers, initially competitive, gather together in a conspiracy against the public or, more specifically, against their customers. They agree that each firm will restrict its output in an attempt to keep prices high. But a high price invites cheating, in the sense that each firm seeks to expand its own output beyond what is allowable under the agreement. Eventually, the cartel crumbles unless it is enforced by legal sanctions, and even then violations are legion. That story, told in every economics textbook, is also the story of male producers in the romance industry. Initially fiercely competitive, they gather together in a conspiracy against their "customers"—the women to whom they offer their hands in marriage. The conspiracy consists of an agreement under which each man restricts his romantic endeavors in an attempt to increase the bargaining position of men in general. But the improved position of men invites cheating, in the sense that each man tries to court more women than allowed under the agreement. The cartel survives only because it is enforced by legal sanctions, and even so violations are legion. （转摘自Steven Pinker： How The Mind Works ）按Landsburg的说法，单偶制是一种买方卡特尔（欧佩克是卖方卡特尔），它是男人之间的妥协，通过限制每个买家（男人）的购买量，来对付女人漫天要价，结果受损的是女人，比如，原本可以做李嘉诚三奶的，现在只好做某小职员的大奶了；和欧佩克一样，这种卡特尔总是面临作弊的破坏（因为作弊的诱惑太大了），必须借助强制力，并且即使有强制性规定也往往难以良好执行，确实如此。对Landsburg的分析，我要补充一下，单偶制实际上奖励了漂亮女人，而损害了相貌平平或丑陋的女人，根据我对多妻制和女性第二性征的分析（参见《乳房的等级多偶制起源假说》及文内链接），男性对女性容貌的选择，实际上是在用质量换取数量，而之所以需要这种交换，就是因为其配偶数量被某种自然、生理或制度条件限制在其供养能力之下，当然，单偶制法律强化了这种限制，因而对质量的要求会更高——如果按供养能力我本来可以娶五个，现在被限制只能娶一个，我对质量的要求当然会大大提高，而这个质量就表现为容貌（某些情况下也可能表现为嫁妆）。推论：设A为财富和权力差异度，B为多妻指数，那么，在一个社会中，A比B的比值越高，该社会的女性第二性征越发达。