A New Quantitative Model of International Marriage

The author previously proposed a model of the quantitative distinction between hypergamy and hypogamy in international marriage. In this model, hypergamy means marriage to a foreign bride from a less developed country and to a foreign groom from a more developed country; whereas hypogamy means the other types of marriage. This study modifies the model by applying it to the latest statistics of Japan and Korea.
The previous model consists of some equations that represent the following three laws on marriage between an arbitrary pair of countries. (1) If the hypergamy-hypogamy ratio is defined as the quotient of the numbers of hypergamies and hypogamies, the ratio in one country equals approximately to that in the other country; (2) The ratio is scarcely influenced by short-term reduction of the economic difference between the two countries, although the ratio should theoretically approach to 1.0 if the difference almost disappears; (3) The economic difference may control the total amount of marriages between the two countries.
The result of the application allows us to conclude as follows: the law (1) is strongly supported; as regards the law (2), the ratio is influenced by medium and long-term reduction of the economic difference; the law (3) should be carefully examined using other data.