Disposable income → Youth / fertility preference in partners
A rise in Disposable income does not identify a change in Youth / fertility preference in partners.
Richer men can act on a preference that poorer men also often hold. Money changes the feasible set, not necessarily the utility function.
Observational · Moderate · N=10047
The association disappears when you account for other factors, like socioeconomic status or healthy-user bias.
Mechanism
Buss (1989) documents a male-typical stated preference for youth cues. Fisman et al. show attractiveness weights in revealed speed-dating choice. Neither paper identifies a causal income→preference shift that survives market-position controls. The honest edge is: income *expresses* the preference.
Caveats
Stated ≠ revealed. Speed-dating samples are students and young professionals. Cross-cultural surveys are not RCTs of cash transfers.
Effect
qualitative. Men with more resources state and reveal stronger youth/attractiveness weights; not an identified biological imperative.
Nodes
Named confounders
Cite this page
What Causes What. “Disposable income → Youth / fertility preference in partners.” https://whatcauseswhat.org/edges/e-income-youth-pref (atlas updated 2026-09-02).
Papers
- Sex differences in human mate preferences: Evolutionary hypotheses tested in 37 cultures
D. M. Buss · 1989 · Behavioral and Brain Sciences
- Gender differences in mate selection: Evidence from a speed dating experiment
R. Fisman, S. S. Iyengar, E. Kamenica, I. Simonson · 2006 · Quarterly Journal of Economics