When couples squabble over money.

AS WHEEDLERS GO, Ralph Cramden is a pretty good one. But try as he might to get his wife, Alice, to fund one of his many business ideas, he can rarely convince her to loosen the purse strings. Before she hands over any money from the couple's limited kitty to back Ralph's Lo-Cal Pizza venture or the bulk purchase of the kitchen gadget of the future, she'd rather buy something practical for the house-a telephone, for instance.

Yes, that was the 1950s. But 40 years later, money squabbles between couples don't necessarily depart radically from a Honeymooners' script. According to a 1990 study conducted at the University of Maryland, women today, like Alice, are more …