We care about making sure that he comes to the Buffy sing-along if and only if my value for his company exceeds his value for staying home.
I bet this would be a big sticking point for many couples, “What do you mean you’d rather stay home than come with me? We are a couple! You would pay me how much to leave you alone?! What am I, a whore? Worse than a whore, even, you would pay me as much JUST TO LEAVE YOU ALONE!” (Door slam)
One has to have a very special relationship to not feel either rejected or coerced in situations like that.
I bet this would be a big sticking point for many couples, “What do you mean you’d rather stay home than come with me? We are a couple! You would pay me how much to leave you alone?! What am I, a whore? Worse than a whore, even, you would pay me as much JUST TO LEAVE YOU ALONE!” (Door slam)
One has to have a very special relationship to not feel either rejected or coerced in situations like that.
Of course, there are situations that raise the prostitution issue even more directly.
“So, honey, just how much of a headache do you have?”
Upvoted for the delightfully flattering implication for my and Bethany’s relationship. :)
But, yes, a prerequisite is that everyone think like an economist, where everything you care about can be assigned a dollar value.
See also the core assumptions at the top of Bethany’s article [http://messymatters.com/autonomy].