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One of the breadth courses I failed in university was the social and economic history of 17th century England, i.e. what happened besides the civil war and the other stuff conventionally covered in history books. Among the case studies was the town of Gough (just because the records were unusually complete, and survived, etc.) where, just looking at what people did, marriage was a predominantly economic institution, if only because people were observed to marry late because they couldn't afford to marry earlier.