Wedding spending and marriage duration, linked?

Are higher wedding expenses associated with longer-lasting marriages? And is the phrase “A diamond is forever” just a fairytale? Professors Andrew M. Francis and Hugo M. Mialon of the Economics Department at Emory University, US, express their opinions in their forthcoming paper for Economic Inquiry, entitled: ‘‘A Diamond is Forever’ and Other Fairy Tales: The Relationship between Wedding Expenses and Marriage Duration’

“The wedding industry has consistently sought to link wedding spending with long-lasting marriages. This paper is the first to examine this relationship statistically. We find that marriage duration is either not associated or inversely associated with spending on the engagement ring and wedding ceremony. Overall, our findings provide little evidence to support the validity of the wedding industry’s general message that connects expensive weddings with positive marital outcomes.”

Also see: (by Professor Hugo M. Mialon) ‘The Economics of Faking Ecstasy’