infidelity Has Different Economic Costs for Men and Women

Newswise Social and Behavioral Sciences News | Infidelity Has Different Economic Costs for Men and Women: "The possibility of eternal damnation has no sway over whether men stay faithful to their wives, but the possibility of getting caught sure does. These are among the results found in new research released today by the University of New Hampshire about the economic costs and benefits of cheating on a spouse and how they differ for men and women.

“People make a cost-benefit calculation when considering whether to have an extramarital affair. This calculation has a connection with biological and socioeconomic factors, and men and women calculate the net benefits from having an affair differently,” said Bruce Elmslie, professor of economics at the UNH Whittemore School of Business and Economics and lead author of the study, which was conducted with Edinaldo Tebaldi, assistant professor of economics at Bryant University.

Elmslie and Tebaldi present their research in the latest issue of the journal Kyklos in the article “So, What Did You Do Last Night? The Economics of Infidelity.”

According to the researchers, the behavior of men and women toward infidelity differs substantially, as men and women respond differently to the perceived costs and benefits of an affair. For women, biological and socioeconomic factors – men who are good candidates to father a child and who"