Are Husbands Like Potatoes?

GMU Professor Bryan Caplan:

When men's incomes go up, everyone expects the demand for wives to go up as well. If average male income rises, men have to offer women a piece (maybe a large piece) of the increase if they want to attract a wife.

But when women's incomes go up, lots of people expect the demand for husbands to go down: "Once women can become financially independent of a man, they will choose to do so."

This is theoretically possible, but only if husbands, like potatoes, are inferior goods. Counter-intuitive, to say the least. How many women dream of becoming affluent cat ladies?

I can easily believe that some kinds of husbands are inferior goods; a high-earning woman might rather be a spinster than marry a high-school drop-out. And there are symbolic margins along which men get a worse deal than 100 years ago - modern males are probably more afraid to make sexist remarks within earshot of their wives. But if you take a look at how much income women deposit in joint checking accounts, it's hard to avoid the conclusion that demand for husbands is at an all-time high.

This sounds like good news to me!