Spousonomics: Using Economics to Master Love, Marriage, and Dirty Dishes

Are you happy in your marriageexcept for those weekly spats over who empties the dishwasher more often? Not a single complaintunless you count the fact that you havent had sex since the Bush administration? Prepared to be there in sickness and in healthso long as it doesnt mean compromising? Be honest: Ever lay awake thinking how much more fun married life used to be?

If youre a member of the human race, then the answer is probably yes to all of the above. Marriage is a mysterious, often irrational business. Making it work till death do you partor just till the end of the weekisnt always easy. And no one ever handed you a users manual.

Until now. With Spousonomics, Paula Szuchman and Jenny Anderson offer something new: a clear-eyed, rational route to demystifying your disagreements and improving your relationship. The key, they propose, is to think like an economist.

Thats right: an economist.

Economics is the study of resource allocation, after all. How do weas partners in a society, a business, or a marriagespend our limited time, money, and energy? And how do we allocate these resources most efficiently? Spousonomics answers these questions by taking classic economic concepts and applying them to the domestic front. For example:

Arguing all night isnt a sign of a communication breakdown; youre just extremely loss-averseand by refusing to give an inch, youre risking even greater losses.
Stay late at the office, or come home for dinner? Be honest about your mother-in-law, or keep your mouth shut and smile? Let the cost-benefit analysis make the call.
Getting your spouse to clean the gutters isnt a matter of nagging or guilt-tripping; its a question of finding the right incentives.
Being too busy to exercise or forgetting your anniversary (again): your overtaxed memory and hectic schedule arent to blamemoral hazard is.
And when it comes to having more sex: merely a question of supply and demand!

Spousonomics cuts through the noise of emotions, egos, and tired relationship clichs. Here, at last, is a smart, funny, refreshingly realistic, and deeply researched book that brings us one giant leap closer to solving the age-old riddle of a happy, healthy marriage.