"Danny paid Bethany about $30,000 in various costs to have their first child while he worked a full-time tech job"
I wonder what her bid was for him to have the baby.
I wonder what her bid was for him to have the baby.
It would have to have been considerably more than $30,000. Surrogacy alone runs upwards of $60K. She was clearly lowballed.
The inefficiency was probably due to a lack of market transparency or external bidding. Clearly next time they should invite third parties in.
Also, what is the value to her to experience the process of having a baby? Ubber-rich women still have their own babies, so there would appear to be a value in the experience.
Another question I have: what about requirements? (this has come up in my own relationship) Suppose the two partners have different ideas of what constitutes "cleaning the house". One might think that mopping and wiping dust off furniture is necessary, while the other might think vacuuming does it. In a real situation, the two contractors don't just compete on price but on product. But in this case product never enters, unless there's a careful discussion up front about exactly what the requirements of the job are. This doesn't really sound like it would decrease stress to me.
This is essentially how my partner and I have divided up housework -- the person whose requirements for "done" are a superset of the other's does the chore. Fortunately we're fairly balanced in that regard.