< Back to front page
Text size
–
+
Why dating online offers lessons in economics
Posted by Karyn Polewaczyk
February 13, 2014 03:25 PM
Credit: iStockphoto
It's the numbers, baby.
So says Paul Oyer, professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and author of the new book Everything I Ever Needed to Know About Economics I Learned From Online Dating. (He actually didn't say "it's the numbers," or "baby," but you know what I mean. Ahem.)
From NPR:
A thick market is one with a lot of participants. And so you want your stock markets to be thick because then it'll be easier to trade, there'll be more supply and demand, and we'll have a more efficient market where transactions will be easier and nobody will feel they're getting ripped off. Now in the online dating world and the job market, it's exactly the same. We want a thick market because we want better matches. And I want to go to one that has a lot of alternatives because I want people who are closer to what I'm looking for.
Thick. Not thin. You got it?
As proof, Oyer met his girlfriend on JDate—even though she works just 100 yards away from him. But, he adds, "I run across people like my girlfriend all the time, but very few of them are looking for a relationship. And so what made the market thick was we both went to this online dating site where everybody was there for that one reason."
The author is solely responsible for the content.
About this blog
Karyn Polewaczyk lives and writes in Boston, and believes that heading out into that good night, like any adventure, begins with the first step. Let's Go Out is a conversation about dating and nightlife in our notoriously chilly city, with first-hand tips from the trenches. Karyn's writing, which focuses largely on women's lifestyle topics, has appeared in the Weekly Dig, Jezebel, xoJane, Northshore Magazine and More.com, among others. Follow her on Twitter at @KarynPolewaczyk.
Recent blog posts
More community voices
[an error occurred while processing this directive]