Justin Wolfers spoke with Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Radio National about using economics to understand the changing public perception of same-sex marriage.
"The starting point is for an economist to think about what is marriage, what does it do," Wolfers told Radio National. Since the 1950s, Wolfers said, the nature of the relationship between married couples has changed.
"What's happened is marriage has moved from being about production complimentaries—mom and dad do different things—to being about consumption complimentaries—we enjoy things together," Wolfers said. "Normal people, who aren't economists, call that love."
This shift, Wolfers continued, partly explains why same-sex marriage is more accepted today than it was fifty years ago.
[Listen to the interview]
Justin Wolfers speaks with Radio National about economics of same-sex marriage
September 28, 2012