Economist on marriage(or lack of it)

Tyler Cowen has a column today in NY Times: Matrimony Has Its Benefits, and Divorce Has a Lot to Do With That.

In the United States, the availability of divorce has increased with unilateral divorce, which allows either member of the couple to dissolve the union. The change has been associated with lower rates of female suicide and domestic violence, and fewer wives murdered by their husbands. Unilateral divorce shifts the bargaining power to the person who is getting less out of the marriage and thus is most likely to leave. The partner getting more from the marriage has to work harder to keep the other person around, which can be good for the marriage and good for the couple. In other words, unilateral divorce benefits victims and potential victims.

As a pretending economist, I don't have any problem with his points here. But as usual I would be hard pressed to accept the underlying assumption of rationality. As human beings we are biologically wired to react to emotions, not cold economics. I am quoting the famous Scottish philosopher David Hume here: "Reason is the slave to emotions", that sounds quite right to me.