Vanity Economics: An Economic Exploration of Sex, Marriage and Family

This book presents an accessible and sometimes controversial economic exploration of numerous issues surrounding sex, marriage and family. It analyses the role of 'vanity', defined as social status and self-esteem, in social and economic behaviors.

In Veblen's theory of conspicuous consumption, vanity is associated with the consumption of luxuries such as expensive handbags and cars. In this book, C. Simon Fan provocatively argues that vanity is obtained by having a spouse and children with ...