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Using Economics to Master Love, Marriage, and Dirty Dishes
Random House, Inc.
February 2011
On Sale: February 8, 2011
352 pages ISBN: 0385343949 EAN: 9780385343947 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Are you happy in your marriageβexcept for those weekly spats over who empties the dishwasher more often? Not a single complaintβunless you count the fact that you havenβt had sex since the Bush administration? Prepared to be there in sickness and in healthβso long as it doesnβt mean compromising? Be honest: Ever lay awake thinking how much more fun married life used to be? If youβre a member of the human race, then the answer is probably βyesβ to all of the above. Marriage is a mysterious, often irrational business. Making it work till death do you partβor just till the end of the weekβisnβt always easy. And no one ever handed you a userβs 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. Thatβs right: an economist. Economics is the study of resource allocation, after all. How do weβas partners in a society, a business, or a marriageβspend 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: β’ Arguing all night isnβt a sign of a communication breakdown; youβre just extremely loss-averseβand by refusing to give an inch, youβre risking even greater losses. β’ 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. β’ Getting your spouse to clean the gutters isnβt a matter of nagging or guilt-tripping; itβs a question of finding the right incentives. β’ Being βtoo busyβ to exercise or forgetting your anniversary (again): your overtaxed memory and hectic schedule arenβt to blameβmoral hazard is. β’ 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 clichΓ©s. 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.
 Media BuzzRachael Ray - July 25, 2011 Marketplace - PRI - February 19, 2011
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