Nevertheless, recently, and since those books and the current edition of Patriot's History were published, some new research has come out on women and their perceptions of wealth.
One survey of a group of female interns found that none of them were willing to consider marriage to a physician who made less than them. In another test, the exact same male was rated for "attractiveness," once in sweat clothes/working clothes and once in an expensive suit with a nice watch. Women tended to rate the same man two to three points (on a scale of ten) more attractive when he was in the suit. In short, the princess marrying the plumber just doesn't happen.
Gilder’s books from the 70s and 80s are amazingly predictive of our present problems. And they were predictive before most of those problems even began to develop significantly.
But they are ignored because they are so amazingly non-PC.