Today I wrote a letter to economist Tim Harford, who writes a weekly Q&A feature at Financial Times, London, which I keenly follow. Reproduced below. Readers not as witty as Tim will be forgiven for logging in their responses at my blogger site.
"Dear Tim Harford,
Some of us are considering if Elin Nordgren was too quick to file for divorce from Tiger Woods. She is going for the split within days of the first discovery, or at least admission by Tiger of the affairs. This is quite in contrast to the actions of the respective wives of Shane Warne, David Beckham and Bill Clinton, each of whom had strayed and was caught in public view.
I believe that the reasons that prompt wives of rich and/or powerful men to file for divorce in reaction to their husbands’ extra marital affairs are mostly economic and professional, not emotional. For example, Simone Callahan, the wife of the Australian cricketer Shane Warne, tolerated his scandals for several years before finally divorcing him. Australian cricketers by no means make as much money as global golf stars, hence, the probability of Simone receiving a handsome amount of alimony was low, pushing her to work on salvaging what she had – a comfortable life, father of her kids as her husband and social status quo. Similarly, the prospect is pretty thin that Victoria will make vulgar sums of money, find a satisfactory new life partner and form a celebrity couple all at one time, after divorcing David Beckham. Hillary had a much lower probability of making the Foreign Secretary, let alone the President of USA as a divorcee vs. with a charismatic Bill Clinton by her side.
It may, therefore, follow that usually a rich and professionally successful male may get an attractive woman to be his wife, who happens to be more objective and analytical, and whose decisions are not predominantly driven by her love for him. Therefore, a rich male must methodically analyze his female partner’s potential upside in divorcing him before he decides to indulge in an affair, and select a break point beyond which he will remain loyal.
Tim, do you think I have discovered a new canon in sexual economics?
Regards,
Chetan"
