亲爱的经济学家，
我生活在一个允许一夫多妻制、但男人大多只娶一个老婆的地方。我的一位朋友有两个老婆。有一次人家问他为什么娶俩，他调侃地说：“供应商更多就意味着竞争更激烈，为客户提供的服务更好。”通过直觉和观察，我知道，有两个老婆的人很少会过上“平静”的日子。作为经济学家，你会如何解释呢？
穆赫辛(Mohsin)，巴基斯坦
亲爱的穆赫辛，
你朋友正在展示一句老话的真谛：唯一比经济学家更危险的就是半吊子经济学家。他说得对的地方在于，事后他有可能享受到竞争带来的好处，但他没有考虑事前议价的问题。
事实上，大多数反对一夫多妻制的人根本不识数。一夫多妻制并不会创造额外的老婆，只会改变婚配机制。少数富裕或其它方面有吸引力的男人，每人会娶多个女人。这样，其他女人就处在供不应求的状态，在议价中占据强势地位。（在父权社会，在议价中占据强势地位的是这些女人的父亲们，但这并非一夫多妻制本身所致。）女人们得到了更多的选择：她们可与别人共侍一位百万富翁，也可以从地位较卑微的男人中选择伴侣——这些男人有许多一辈子也娶不上老婆，想必他们每个人都十分渴望讨女人欢心。
你朋友或许已找到一种办法来享受他的“双妻”婚姻，尽管我对此表示怀疑。聪明的女人会在嫁给一夫多妻者之前附加约束条件。你朋友肯定找到了办法来摆脱约束——要么他就是在隐瞒自己的痛苦。但有一点无疑是清楚的：他减少了对其他男人的老婆供应，让他们处在非常不利的地位。我不知道你到底为什么还认他作朋友。
I live in a place where polygamy is allowed, but generally avoided. One of my friends has two wives. When asked why, he once quipped “more suppliers means more competition and better service for the customer”. Now I know, both intuitively and through observation, that people with two wives seldom lead “peaceful” lives. As an economist, how would you explain that?
Mohsin, Pakistan
Dear Mohsin,
Your friend is demonstrating the truth of the old saying that the only thing more dangerous than an economist is an amateur economist. He's right that ex post he potentially enjoys the benefits of competition, but he neglects the question of ex ante bargaining.
The truth is that most people who argue against polygamy simply cannot count. Polygamy does not create extra wives – it just changes the dynamics of who marries whom. A few rich or otherwise attractive men will marry several women each, and other women will therefore be in short supply and in a strong bargaining position. (In a patriarchal society, it will put their fathers in a strong bargaining position instead, but this is not the fault of polygamy itself.) Women get more choice: they can share a millionaire with someone else, or they can take their pick from humbler men, many of whom will never marry and each of whom, presumably, will be very eager to please.
Your friend may have found a way to enjoy his double marriage, although I wonder about that. Wise women will have insisted on binding conditions before entering into a marriage with a polygamist. Your friend must have found a way to wriggle out of these – or he's hiding his pain. But what is certainly clear is that in reducing the supply of wives for other men, he has placed them at a serious disadvantage. I am not sure why he is still your friend at all.
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001034148/en
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