一个母亲的来信 zt

一个母亲的来信

My 15-year-old is disinclined to work for her GCSEs, saying her time is better spent preening herself in preparation for assignations with her delightful, diligent, privately educated, moneyed boyfriend. She insists the money spent on nail-painting, hair-colouring and the like is an investment and will be more than repaid when he marries her. Is she deluding herself?

A curious mother

Dear Curious Mother,

Surprising as this may seem in the 21st century, your daughter\'s strategy is not unusual. Evidence on speed-dating gathered by the economists Michèle Belot and Marco Francesconi shows that women are attracted by rich men, while men focus more on a woman\'s physical appearance. Lena Edlund, another economist, has found that in the areas of her native Sweden where the wealthiest men live, women of prime marriageable age are over-represented.

However, your daughter is only 15; for Edlund, “prime marriageable age” is 25-44. Your daughter is either going to have to get her hooks into this chap unusually early, or she is going to have to keep him on the boil for another decade – a lot of nail-painting.

Not only is she concentrating her investments into a single asset by abandoning her education, but she may even be making her main goal harder to achieve. Belot and Francesconi discovered that a strong social trend towards “assortative mating” means that although educated, high-achieving men are not interested in marrying a rich woman, they do like educated high-achieving women, rather than shallow girls with shiny nails.

Your daughter should learn to work hard and look good at the same time. Not only will it advance her immediate goals, it will also – sadly – stand her in good stead for the rest of her life.



我15岁的女儿不愿为拿到英国普通中等教育证书(GCSE)而努力学习，称自己把时间花在穿着打扮上更有意义，为的是与她那个讨人喜欢、勤奋、上私立学校的有钱男友约会。她坚称，花在美甲和染发等方面的钱是一种投资，在男友迎娶自己时就会获得更多的回报。她是在欺骗自己吗？

一位好奇的母亲

亲爱的好奇母亲：

尽管在二十一世纪这种情况可能会非常令人吃惊，但你女儿的策略并不罕见。经济学家米谢勒•贝洛(Michèle Belot)和马尔科•弗兰切斯科尼(Marco Francesconi)收集的有关闪电约会的证据表明，女性受到有钱男性的吸引，而男性更关注女性的容貌。另一位经济学家莱娜•埃德隆德(Lena Edlund)发现，在其祖国瑞典最富有男士生活的地区，处于最佳适婚年龄的女性比例过高。

不过，你的女儿只有15岁；在埃德隆德看来，“最佳适婚年龄”是25岁至44岁。你的女儿要么必须及早把这家伙弄到手，要么就必须设法让他保持激情再等上10年——那需要大量的美甲。

她放弃自身教育的结果是，不仅她的投资仅集中于单一的资产，而且甚至可能会让她的主要目标更加难以实现。贝洛和弗兰切斯科尼发现，存在一种强烈的“选型交配”社交趋势，即尽管受过教育的成功男士对与有钱女士结婚不感兴趣，但他们确实喜欢受过教育的成功女士，而不是指甲闪亮的浅薄女子。

你的女儿应该学会在努力学习的同时也把自己打扮得漂漂亮亮。这不仅能帮她提前实现当前的目标，而且——遗憾的是——在以后的日子里都会让她受益无穷。