In the long run, monogamous societies are at a distinct disadvantage to a society that practices polygyny within the bounds of Islamic regulations. There are a number of reasons for this.

  1. The most successful males, probably those with the best genes, reproduce more. This increases the overall genetic quality of society.
  2. Less available females means there is more need to go to war to acquire more females. This is a problem if the society’s values are bad, but in the case of Islam, it means male sexual desire is directed toward spreading and establishing the truth.
  3. In the process of war, the weaker males die and the females are distributed among the stronger warriors, making the next generation stronger.
  4. Expansion means absorbing new ethnic groups, which increases genetic diversity. Genetic diversity is correlated to overall health and vitality of the population.
  5. In an economy based on household labor, optimal economic output requires that men capable of maintaining multiple households do so. Polygyny increases overall output. If a woman marries a man who cannot provide the resources necessary for her to achieve peak productivity, the whole society loses out.
  6. Economies based on households improve the standing and rights of women, because they have direct control over
    production. Feminism only became necessary when production was removed from the home and moved into factories owned by men. An economic model based primarily on household labor thus improves the quality of relationships and families through mutual interdependence.
  7. Wives in polygynous marriages have more time to focus on child rearing and education, since there is less demand placed on them when it comes to caring for their husband.
  8. Concentration of wealth and influence is discouraged. Wealthy men are more likely to have a large number of children, all of whom inherit wealth and influence. European aristocrats had dozens of dispossessed illegitimate children, which led to severe inequality and social tension.

Overall, a polygynous society will tend to be stronger, healthier, more expansionist, and more equitable than a monogamous society. In the short term, industrial production can outperform the model of household-based production, but industrialized economies have a large number of externalized costs which accumulate with time.

In this analysis, industrialization is explicitly associated with monogamy. This is because it requires an unnatural level of capital accumulation, which would be impossible if industrialists, financiers, and aristocrats gave equal rights to all of their offspring, rather than marginalizing illegitimate offspring.