Today is the first really hot day this year. It also is one of the first weekends that allows a bit of a breather; no business trip, no die-hard work deadline, no big family event to take care of. Hallelujah.<\/p>\n
Best time to sit in the garden between roses and peonies and question 50-year old romantic advice, from an economist\u2019s point of view. Get me my iced matcha latte.<\/p>\n
Where were we?<\/p>\n
11 Get a job in a medical, dental or law school.<\/strong><\/p>\n Hm. The idea behind this counsel was probably to immerse the ladies in an environment where they would find a doctor, dentist or lawyer husband. What was meant by \u2018a job\u2019 in those schools? Teaching jobs may not be in rich supply or easy to pick up. So, more likely an administrative job?\u00a0 \u2013 This advice dates from a time where marriages were not yet, on average, assortatively matched. But nowadays, they are. Assortative matching means, partners in a couple tend to correspond in age, wage and education. In other words, lawyers tend to marry lawyers, and doctors other doctors, or at least someone of similar education and wage. This trend has started around the end of the second world war and has become stronger since (also see here<\/a> and here<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Therefore, for better or worse, a clerical job in a law or medical school will normally not make the job holder an eligible prospect for the budding lawyers and doctors studying there.<\/p>\n This basic assumption, of marriages not being between (professional) equals, but rather of female hypergamy (women marrying up) recurs several times in the original article on the \u2018129 ways\u2019. It makes for a big part of the smirks we cannot suppress when reading, because in our day and age it does not hold any more.<\/p>\n 12 Become a nurse or an air-line stewardess -they have very high marriage rates. <\/strong><\/p>\n I have no idea where the authors of the ‘129 ways’ got their statistics. I researched a bit, and the marriage rate<\/strong> itself does not seem to vary so much across professions. It varies more with educational attainment, but not even that much: the more educated you are, the more likely it is you will marry (over 90% for those with a full college degree, about 80% for those with secondary school only, using US labor force data.)<\/p>\n Now, what is well documented, is the divorce rate<\/strong><\/a> of different occupations. I am not so sure you want to marry a flight attendant after reading those: they have the third highest divorce rate, at 50.5%.<\/p>\n Look out for an actuary instead.<\/p>\n 13 Ask your friends\u2019 husbands who the eligible men are in their offices.<\/strong><\/p>\n There is nothing wrong with a bit of networking. Beware though of whom your friends\u2019 husbands might recommend. I have found out over the years that a straight man may not be the best judge of what you could find attractive. Let\u2019s just say, my father and brother had interesting date suggestions for me growing up. So you may want to specify a few criteria. Say 1-5 binary criteria that can be easily checked by your proxies.<\/p>\n 14 Be nice to everybody \u2013 they may have an eligible brother or son.<\/strong><\/p>\n Always a good rule, although \u2018kind\u2019 might be more authentic than \u2018nice\u2019.<\/p>\n Then, on second thoughts \u2013 why were you inclined not<\/em> to be nice to someone in the first place? Was that particular person a source of trouble? It matters, because according to the above thinking they could be the family you are marrying into. Worth thinking through.<\/p>\n Ok, dear readers, until next week. If we have another breather.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Today is the first really hot day this year. It also is one of the first weekends that allows a bit of a breather; no business trip, no die-hard work deadline, no big family event to take care of. Hallelujah. … Continue reading