I'm rather entertained at the number of people objecting to your description of marriage as an "economic institution". That's exactly what marriage has been for

I'm rather entertained at the number of people objecting to your description of marriage as an "economic institution". That's exactly what marriage has been for thousands of years: primarily a way of ensuring the continuity of property and perpetuation of a family name. Feelings, by and large, don't enter into it in the grand scheme of things. Marriage today would be tolerable if it weren't for the absurd debt spectacle involved (in both getting a ring and a ceremony), the rather nasty legal implications upon divorce, and overall the lack of societal support for raising a family these days.