Polygamous societies are more violent

Is there a correlation between polygamy and violence in a society? Countries in which men are legally permitted to marry morethan one woman are plagued by instability as poorer men turn to violence to amid a shortage of brides, according to the Economist. “If the richest and most powerful 10% of men have four wives each, the bottom 30% of men cannot marry. Young men will take desperate measures to avoid this fate,” the magazine says, arguing that poor men are often tempted to resort to violent methods to secure the wealth needed to get married. Banned in most Western countries, polygamy is common in the MENA region and Asia — and each of the world’s 20 most unstable countries, the Economist (which still insists it is a newspaper) reports (watch, runtime: 1:45).