http://thedailyindignity.com/2014/03/13/...-20-years/
Shelling out $200 or more to have sex with a prostitute is an expensive way for men to get their rocks off but it’s much cheaper than getting married, an economist says.
Matthew Barnes of the University of Chicago says it’s pricier by a factor of 10 for men to get sex regularly through marriage than to hire a prostitute on a regular basis. Behind the huge gap are the long-term costs associated with marriage—mortgage, college, groceries, vacations, clothes—that don’t apply to a weekly fling with a prostitute.
“There’s more to marriage than just sex, but strictly from an economics standpoint, if the primary reason that men marry is to have a steady outlet for sex, then they’re much better off just having sex with a prostitute, says Barnes, lead author of a study that appears this month in Economics Journal.
Barnes and his research team compared the costs of getting and staying married for a 20-year period to 20 years of weekly sex with a prostitute at $200 a pop. Barnes says $200 is the median price for sex with a prostitute who prices her services at the midpoint of the market in the 20 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the United States. High-priced hookers and drug-addicted street walkers weren’t included in the sampling.
The result is eye-opening. For marriage, the 20-year price tag comes to $2 million, on average, 10 times more than the roughly $208,000 a man would pay over the same time period for a weekly liaison with prostitutes. “And the prostitutes don’t nag,” says Barnes, “or, if they do, you can just go to another one.”
Of course, with marriage you get a life companion, says Barnes, “someone to share your hopes and dreams and be there for you when you’re down, and you often get kids, which are another quality-of-life consideration. But we’re not looking at these larger issues; we’re just pulling out the sex function of marriage, and on that point, the economics couldn’t be clearer.”
Barnes says he’s not advocating for men to divorce their wives and find a hooker that they like, but for a man whose main motivation is just to have a regular source of sex, then he might seriously consider just going the prostitution route. “Or, better yet, get a girlfriend that you don’t have to marry and who doesn’t expect to eat at fancy restaurants every week,” says Barnes. “But the problem with girlfriends is they eventually want you to put up or shut up—that is, get married or take a hike. So, unless you can either find one that’s willing to go the distance without marriage or you’re such a charming guy that you can always have a girl on your arm by the time the weekend rolls around, you might as well go with the paid sex.”
Barnes and his team are now looking at whether it makes more sense from a woman’s happiness standpoint to marry a man or just get a lamp they can talk to when they’re not out with their girlfriends.
Shelling out $200 or more to have sex with a prostitute is an expensive way for men to get their rocks off but it’s much cheaper than getting married, an economist says.
Matthew Barnes of the University of Chicago says it’s pricier by a factor of 10 for men to get sex regularly through marriage than to hire a prostitute on a regular basis. Behind the huge gap are the long-term costs associated with marriage—mortgage, college, groceries, vacations, clothes—that don’t apply to a weekly fling with a prostitute.
“There’s more to marriage than just sex, but strictly from an economics standpoint, if the primary reason that men marry is to have a steady outlet for sex, then they’re much better off just having sex with a prostitute, says Barnes, lead author of a study that appears this month in Economics Journal.
Barnes and his research team compared the costs of getting and staying married for a 20-year period to 20 years of weekly sex with a prostitute at $200 a pop. Barnes says $200 is the median price for sex with a prostitute who prices her services at the midpoint of the market in the 20 largest metropolitan statistical areas in the United States. High-priced hookers and drug-addicted street walkers weren’t included in the sampling.
The result is eye-opening. For marriage, the 20-year price tag comes to $2 million, on average, 10 times more than the roughly $208,000 a man would pay over the same time period for a weekly liaison with prostitutes. “And the prostitutes don’t nag,” says Barnes, “or, if they do, you can just go to another one.”
Of course, with marriage you get a life companion, says Barnes, “someone to share your hopes and dreams and be there for you when you’re down, and you often get kids, which are another quality-of-life consideration. But we’re not looking at these larger issues; we’re just pulling out the sex function of marriage, and on that point, the economics couldn’t be clearer.”
Barnes says he’s not advocating for men to divorce their wives and find a hooker that they like, but for a man whose main motivation is just to have a regular source of sex, then he might seriously consider just going the prostitution route. “Or, better yet, get a girlfriend that you don’t have to marry and who doesn’t expect to eat at fancy restaurants every week,” says Barnes. “But the problem with girlfriends is they eventually want you to put up or shut up—that is, get married or take a hike. So, unless you can either find one that’s willing to go the distance without marriage or you’re such a charming guy that you can always have a girl on your arm by the time the weekend rolls around, you might as well go with the paid sex.”
Barnes and his team are now looking at whether it makes more sense from a woman’s happiness standpoint to marry a man or just get a lamp they can talk to when they’re not out with their girlfriends.