3 ms·

This is partly a myth. More important was the non legal enforcement of engagements. Many couples in the past would start to have sex when engaged. If the engage

by nickik 5y ago

This is partly a myth. More important was the non legal enforcement of engagements. Many couples in the past would start to have sex when engaged. If the engagement is not legally secure, the diamond basically serves as signal. That why 3-month salary make sense. If I buy a 3-month salary worth diamond I'm probably not gone leave you after a month. Its an easily portable high value item that also serves as signaling for the person wearing it. It makes more sense then livestock in the modern world. Marketing had something to do with it, but its more complex then that.

ASalazarMX 5y ago
> Its an easily portable high value item that also serves as signaling for the person wearing it. It makes more sense then livestock in the modern world. Jewelry is not a great value store, unless you're fine with selling it at a significant loss. Diamonds specially, unless they're rare, seem to magically lose a lot of its value as soon as they print your receipt. To be honest, I find the whole love-engagement-sex-wedding handling retrograde and inappropriate for the current times.
- setr 5y ago
  >Jewelry is not a great value store, unless you're fine with selling it at a significant loss Neither is a car, but they're both still very strong signals of wealth (specifically, that you could afford to burn the money). However, if you want jewelry as a value store, you deal in gold and silver (mainly that it can be melted down)
- nickik 5y ago
  This is true but this happen partially over time and the more important function is the initial signal. And displaying the wealth that is mobile is also an important signal. Pure economics would suggest a small gold bar would make more sense if you want to signal commitment. > To be honest, I find the whole love-engagement-sex-wedding handling retrograde and inappropriate for the current times. Me to but that is not the discussion.
wahern 5y ago
To the incredulous: the argument is that expensive engagement rings helped fill the cultural gaps left by the repeal of Breach of Promise to Marry laws. The supporting evidence is an apparently strong geographic correlation between repeal of these laws and increases in high-value diamond engagement rings, the latter beginning after the start of the repeal movement yet before the infamous De Beers marketing campaigns. For the overview: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/04/the-strange-and-formerly-sexist-economics-of-engagement-rings/255434/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/04/the-str... The original research paper: Margaret F. Brinig, Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization Vol. 6, No. 1 (Spring, 1990), pp. 203-215 (13 pages), https://www.jstor.org/stable/764797 https://www.jstor.org/stable/764797 Wikipedia page on Breach of Promise to Marry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breach_of_promise https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breach_of_promise

by nickik 5y ago

ASalazarMX 5y ago

> Its an easily portable high value item that also serves as signaling for the person wearing it. It makes more sense then livestock in the modern world. Jewelry is not a great value store, unless you're fine with selling it at a significant loss. Diamonds specially, unless they're rare, seem to magically lose a lot of its value as soon as they print your receipt. To be honest, I find the whole love-engagement-sex-wedding handling retrograde and inappropriate for the current times.

setr 5y ago
>Jewelry is not a great value store, unless you're fine with selling it at a significant loss Neither is a car, but they're both still very strong signals of wealth (specifically, that you could afford to burn the money). However, if you want jewelry as a value store, you deal in gold and silver (mainly that it can be melted down)
nickik 5y ago
This is true but this happen partially over time and the more important function is the initial signal. And displaying the wealth that is mobile is also an important signal. Pure economics would suggest a small gold bar would make more sense if you want to signal commitment. > To be honest, I find the whole love-engagement-sex-wedding handling retrograde and inappropriate for the current times. Me to but that is not the discussion.

wahern 5y ago

To the incredulous: the argument is that expensive engagement rings helped fill the cultural gaps left by the repeal of Breach of Promise to Marry laws. The supporting evidence is an apparently strong geographic correlation between repeal of these laws and increases in high-value diamond engagement rings, the latter beginning after the start of the repeal movement yet before the infamous De Beers marketing campaigns. For the overview: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/04/the-strange-and-formerly-sexist-economics-of-engagement-rings/255434/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/04/the-str... The original research paper: Margaret F. Brinig, Journal of Law, Economics, & Organization Vol. 6, No. 1 (Spring, 1990), pp. 203-215 (13 pages), https://www.jstor.org/stable/764797 https://www.jstor.org/stable/764797 Wikipedia page on Breach of Promise to Marry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breach_of_promise https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breach_of_promise