ECONOMICS OF MARRIAGE AND MARRIAGES IN NEPALESE SOCIETIES - Just started working paper by OK (Note: comments are welcome !! ... Please do not quote without permission) The marriage is a very emotional and even spiritual topic. Many people think that marriage is the social and personal secrete that has little effect in economic market. Saying in another way we cannot relate the marriage in economic terms and traded with other goods that give more satisfaction. However, the economics can be used to deal with non- monetary market sector for studying non-market behavior. The marriage in the society is one and important such issue which can not be marketed like other consumable goods but is highly influential for the economic market either in short term or in the long run. Generally marital patterns have major implications for population growth, number of births, labor force participation, income and ability of families and allocation of household resources, which are the major focal areas of the economics. It is voluntary one either the persons marrying each other or their parents, the economic theories of preferences can readily applied and the persons marrying can assume to expect to raise their utility level. Market competition is another issue. Many males and females compete to search their mates and a complete market is formed. Each person tries to find the best mate subject to constraints imposed by market conditions with consumption of household produced commodities (described later in detail). According to the nature of the problem, such competition should reach to the equilibrium state but it is hardly seen in some societies like in Nepalese cultures because of the constraints imposed by the societies with religious caste system. In some society, the new couple usually set up their own household where as in others they live with one set of parents. Of course, it is very difficult to formulate marriage theory for all similarities and differences in different cultures and societies but economic approach does quite well. The marital patterns differ among societies and change over time in varieties of ways that challenge any single theory. If we talk about the types of marriage in Nepal, we can hardly find more than 2 marriage types. These two common types of marriages are arranged-marriage and love-marriage. The first one is dominating most of the marriages in Nepal in which parents of the possible couple are responsible to search, decide and arrange the marriage programs. The second type of marriage is also becoming more popular in Nepal in recent years in which the male or female starts loving each other prior to the decision to marry. Sometimes combination of these types such as love-arrange is also possible which is now best option for educated families with modern parents. In some society, especially in the western societies, divorce is generally common but in others it is not. In Nepal, divorce is rare, if not impossible in recent days and it is gaining popularity because of its legality and changes in the social concepts. Some societies in Nepal do not favor of divorce and widow marriage. Trial marriage, a marriage that is done in trial basis, is very far from us. In such marriage, if a male or female during their trial period of marriage looses more than gain (in economic term), then second alternative is free to search. Marriage years after living together, which is, very common in western and developed societies, is rare in Nepal even though some practices are on the way in recent days.