Why do women like cads?

A loyal MR reader asks:

Explore the economics of the Tom Leykis model of human behavior: under a surprisingly broad set of conditions, women are more attracted to men who treat them poorly, don’t spend money on them, etc., while nice guys finish last.

Here is a very early MR post on that topic, and another.  Amber offers salacious commentary.  I’ll add that a lot of the so-called nice guys aren’t actually nicer than average, once you get past the surface.

41 in a series of 50.