AT Reclaiming Beauty, Kidist Paulos Asrat writes about Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers, economists, public policy celebrities and purported experts on marriage and the economy. Interestingly, Stevenson and Wolfers are not married, though they have lived together for years and have two children. They are not married for tax reasons, which is a super-cool reason not to marry. They employ a nanny for some $50,000 a year and outsource almost all domestic chores. Thus have they outfoxed the tedium that has afflicted mankind and been able to devote themselves to the families of the world. Wolfers is the first economist in history to discover fatherhood — and he has long hair, which further boosts his hipness rating. The top universities can’t get enough of these two and they have worked at a bunch of them. They are currently employed at the University of Michigan. Here is a New York Times piece about them from last year.

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Mrs. M. writes:

The picture says a thousand words. Ms. Stevenson’s slouchy, smirky “alpha” attitude is a perfect foil to Mr. Wolfers’ demure, ladylike presentation. Ironically, they research the decline in women’s happiness as well. Look in the mirror, folks! There’s your answer. I do not know if I want to laugh or retch.

Blessings to you this Christmas season!

George writes:

You might like the part about how he does the diapers as compensation for her doing the breastfeeding.

DUBNER :

All right, so I did know that Stevenson and Wolfers aren’t actually married. They refer to each other as “partners” rather than husband and wife.

STEVENSON:

I’m the person of the household who manage all of our money, so Justin and I do actually follow the old household specialization rules, but we do it much more narrowly. So, Justin does IT; I do money. Justin does diapers; I do breastfeeding. And when it comes to money I quickly realized that, particularly as young people, the costs of being married outweighed any of the benefits when it comes to financial costs. Particularly as two people who have similar careers and therefore similar earnings. The tax costs.

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