THE ECONOMICS OF MESSY ROOMMATES.

THE ECONOMICS OF MESSY ROOMMATES. Three of the best sites for economics are debating the issue of messy roommates (hypothetical: assume a messy husband and a neat wife. Who cleans?). The discussion, which now has generated numerous very interesting comments, began here, with Bryan Caplan saying that the man in the hypothetical is unfairly criticized for shirking: “The evidence: Look at the typical bachelor’s apartment. Even when a man pays the full cost of cleanliness and receives the full benefit, he doesn’t do much. Why not? Because the typical man doesn’t care very much about cleanliness. When the bachelor gets married, he almost certainly starts doing more housework than he did when he was single. How can you call that shirking?” Megan McArdle disagreed here, giving several reasons grounded in economics (and generating over 40 interesting comments). Tyler Cowen commented here, at the Marginal Revolution blog (with 20 interesting comments). Notice that Tyler Cowen focuses on possible alternative bargains between the roommates. I am sure that your reaction to all this is to wonder about the economic theory of Messy Roommates.