Everything I Ever Needed to Know about Economics Learned from Online Dating

Offers a provocative, and informative view of modern microeconomics - using the lens of online dating. The author states that the behaviors driving online dating mimic those driving any other market - and so should be central to how business people at every level analyze their critical interactions. Conquering the dating market--from an economist's point of view After more than twenty years, economist Paul Oyer found himself back on the dating scene--but what a difference a few years made. Dating was now dominated by sites like Match.com, eHarmony, and OkCupid. But Oyer had a secret weapon: economics. It turns out that dating sites are no different than the markets Oyer had spent a lifetime studying. Monster.com, eBay, and other sites where individuals come together to find a match gave Oyer startling insight into the modern dating scene. The arcane language of economics--search, signaling, adverse selection, cheap talk, statistical discrimination, thick markets, and network externalities--provides a useful guide to finding a mate. Using the ideas that are central to how markets and economics and dating work, Oyer shows how you can apply these ideas to take advantage of the economics in everyday life, all around you, all the time. For all online daters--and for anyone else swimming in the vast sea of the information economy--this book uses Oyer's own experiences, and those of millions of others, to help you navigate the key economic concepts that drive the modern age.

Conquering the dating market—from an economist"s point of viewAfter more than twenty years, economist Paul Oyer found himself back on the dating scene—but what a difference a few years made. Dating was now dominated by sites like Match.com, eHarmony, and OkCupid. But Oyer had a secret weapon: economics.It turns out that dating sites are no different than the markets Oyer had spent a lifetime studying. Monster.com, eBay, and other sites where individuals come together to find a match gave Oyer startling insight into the modern dating scene. The arcane language of economics—search, signaling, adverse selection, cheap talk, statistical discrimination, thick markets, and network externalities—provides a useful guide to finding a mate. Using the ideas that are central to how markets and economics and dating work, Oyer shows how you can apply these ideas to take advantage of the economics in everyday life, all around you, all the time.For all online daters—and for anyone else swimming in the vast sea of the information economy—this book uses Oyer"s own experiences, and those of millions of others, to help you navigate the key economic concepts that drive the modern age.