Spouse Selection in Arranged Marriages: An Analysis of Time Invariant and Time Variant Decision Rules

Even though arranged marriages have been around for quite a while, the economics literature has paid scant attention to the nature of decision making in such marriages. Consequently, very little is known about the effects of alternate decision rules on the spouse selection question in arranged marriages. Given this state of affairs, our paper has three objectives. First, we construct a simple model of decision making in arranged marriages. Second, we use this model to analyze the expected utility of a marrying agent when this agent uses, respectively, time invariant and time variant decision rules. Finally, we compare and contrast the properties of time invariant and time variant decision rules and we discuss the magnitude of the premium arising from the maintenance of temporal flexibility in decision making.