Does love obey the laws of economics?

On the eve of Valentine’s Day, couples strolled along the aisles of supermarkets and other open spaces holding hands. Flowers were on sale and entertainment places booked.

On Valentine’s Day, love was in the air and colours changed, with red gaining a lot of popularity. By Sunday, all that was gone and forgotten.

Love, whatever it is, has fascinated us since the dawn of civilisation. Philosophers have spent a considerable amount of time thinking about it, and so have priests, poets and idlers. Love is one things that cuts across class, gender, age and race.

Supply and demand

We all aspire to fall in love, and once we do so, find it hard to explain to others — including those you fall in love with — what falling in love is all about.

The difficulty in explaining what falling in love is all about has made movies based on love or its variants popular. However, there seems to be a consensus that it’s easier to explain how to fall out of love than how to fall in love.

The latest group of people to delve into the mysterious world of love are economists. So, does love obey the laws of economics?

A good example is the law of supply and demand. If you are a man, can you fall in love because there are girls with no one to love them? Or can a woman fall in love because there are lots of men waiting to be loved? Most likely not.

There are lots of unmarried men and women longing to fall in love and marry but cannot. The availability of people does not translate into love.

Contrast that with cars or other gadgets where demand leads to purchase. Love, does not seem to obey the law of supply and demand. How can you supply or demand what you do not know?

Diminishing returns

This perhaps explains why we carry flowers to express love — because we are not sure what it is. We prefer public approval. We even call the public to witness our weddings as a celebration of love, but divorces still follow.

Maybe despite defying the law of supply and demand, love obeys the law of diminishing returns. That is, there can be too much of a good thing.

How many of those holding hands on Valentine’s Day last week will be holding hands next year? Most likely not all; not because the partners are bad, but because, with time, they get tired of each other.

The time and money they invest in the relationship might have fewer than expected returns, mostly emotional.

First love

Love seems to obey the law of diminishing marginal utility. If you are thirsty and drink water, the first glass of water is more satisfying than the second and third.

The first person you fall in love with remains closer to your heart than those who come later. I’m sure you can all explain in greater detail the first time you fell in love than the follow up cases ....

Perhaps that is why many married couples are haunted by their ‘first loves’. Even after marriage, you cannot forget your first encounter with the one you first fell in love with.

It could perhaps make lots of sense to marry the person you first fell in love with because you have no comparison. Such love is unlikely to obey the law of diminishing marginal utility.

The more men or women you encounter, the more your love is dispersed and the less effective it becomes. But with diminishing marginal utility, you think the next one will make up for decreasing utility or satisfaction.

No wonder Casanovas rarely stop unless they become encumbered by age or ailments. Does that also explain why prostitution thrives?

Love is probably like a banana; it must ripen. When people fall in love young, they are not sure about love and are more likely to fall out of love and be under the spell of economic laws.

Probably the younger the couple when they marry, the higher the chances of divorce. They are more likely to suffer from the law of diminishing returns and utility. For older couples, the laws of diminishing returns and utility are moderated by reality.

Finally, love defies rationality or reason. It’s about emotions, which makes it hard to model into the equations beloved by economists.

Valentine’s is gone and we look forward to another one. The more we celebrate it, the more its utility (satisfaction) decreases. That is the reality of life and we must learn to live with it.

It might not be such a bad coincidence that there are flowers on wedding days, Valentine’s and at funerals. It is a testimony to life’s continuity and the folly of forgetting or pretending that some day, our feeble bodies will crumble into dust.

The writer is a lecturer, University of Nairobi.

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