

The Playmate Indicator - nir
http://www.marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/10/the-playmate-in.html

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lunchbox
Interesting, but very questionable.

The argument seems to be rooted on evolutionary psychology: when times were
tough in hunter-gatherer days, men needed women who could pitch in with work
to help them survive. Plausible in general, but I'm skeptical of the exact
definition used for "difficult social and economic conditions". In hunter-
gatherer days, this meant droughts, blights, storms, epidemics, and other
disasters that made you starve or freeze to death. In contrast, even in
difficult economic times, modern middle-class American men (i.e. who could
afford Playboy) probably do not have to deal with anything approaching the
level of duress needed to make this survival instinct kick in.

By the way, not to be dismissive, but I think the term "cute-o-nomics" was
invented for studies like this.

