Will Sargent reviewed Dollars and sex by Marina Adshade
Review of 'Dollars and sex' on 'Storygraph'
2 stars
Very... conventional. Whenever there's something to be said about the economics, the thinking is very much towards a standard transactional model, where women have sex earlier if there are fewer men because the men have more bargaining power.
Oh, and she misunderstands life expectancy rates: "At that time, the average life expectancy at birth was thirty-seven years. If people are not going to live very long, then, as a society, you want them to get onto the serious business of reproduction as early as possible. So average life expectancy (an economic outcome) influences societal norms that govern the age at which sexual debut is acceptable."
This is not how life expectancy rate works. The large rate of infant mortality throws off the curve -- most people made it into their 50s and 60s at least. For an economist and statistician, this should be a given.