Will You Marry Me?

I found a good post in my favorite econ blog, Freakonomics Blog. Here's the excerpt:

Every year, as might be expected, the American Wedding Study’s* tally of the amount spent by Americans on getting married increases: from about $22,000 in 2003 to more than $26,000 in 2005 to, in 2006, a grand total of $27,852 …

According to the 2006 study, Americans were spending $14 billion annually on engagement rings, wedding rings, and other items of jewelry. They were purchasing just over $7 billion worth of wedding gowns, tuxedos, flower girl outfits, bridesmaids’ dresses, veils, satin shoes, gloves, stoles, and other items of wedding attire....

It is an interesting fact. Why do they marry? And why do they spend so much money on their wedding? Economists generally reason it: A wedding is a kind of "commitment".

Commitment is the strategic issue that is paid attention to on the games with sequential moves. Sequential moves mean that, for example, if one of the two players in some game moved first the other would make his or her choice by knowing what one player was choosing (or had chosen).

This sort of game is very popular. And the commitment is also very popular among us in our daily life. For example, if you and I walk straight at opposite ends of the street, we both will crash into each other and be injured. And if you or I swerve first, we won't crash.

What should we do in order not to crash into each other? If I forced myself to choose straight, you would choose to swerve, and vice versa. And how do I force myself to do that? For example, I should wear the glasses that enable me to see just only straight and not to see around there. And then you would choose to swerve in the street when you saw me walk to you and wear such glasses.

A wedding is like such a straight-walk game. If I forced myself to choose her, she would choose me as her lifelong partner, and vice versa. And then how do I force myself to do that? For example, I should give her a big, very expensive present like a big, shining diamond ring with the certificate.

Note that this committed choice, a big present for my fiance, must be both irreversible and observable to her; otherwise she couldn't be persuaded to make a big decision(marry me). What is both irreversible and observable to my fiance? This is the question!

The fact that the amount of money spent on wedding is increasing might show us that more men are afraid that their fiances will change their minds and are trying to persuade them to choose themselves.