How Online Dating Can Help You Understand Economics

You already know online dating is a great way to meet your match, but apparently it's also a great way to do something a little more unexpected: learn economics.

In his new book, Paul Oyer explores why online dating is an ideal way to study economic concepts and how they can be used to write a résumé or make an investment. Oyer is the Fred H. Merrill professor of economics at the Stanford Graduate School of Business and the author of Everything I Ever Needed to Know about Economics I Learned from Online Dating. Dense economic concepts, he believes, can be understood more easily when looked at through the accessible lens of online dating.

Online dating is a great place to learn economics because it's a market that anyone can understand, yet it functions in the same way as significantly more complex markets. Most people associate economics with money, explains Oyer, but money is an unimportant detail for most economists. Online dating allows Oyer to clarify economic ideas without mentioning money.

For example, the way an investor would research start-ups to put money into is similar to the way a woman would search through profiles on a dating website. In both situations, the person knows they have limited information and that the other side has a compelling reason to skew that information in their favor. Both people know that they must be careful when making their decision and that a better opportunity could come along if they postpone, but they must weigh that against the fact that they could be left for a long time with nowhere to invest or no one to date if they choose to wait.

"Shopping for a date" is surprisingly similar to shopping for clothes. A "thick market" is one with lots of buyers and sellers, which means more competition and more variety. If you have very specific taste in clothes, a bigger mall with more options is more likely to have what you're looking for then a small store with a limited selection. And a dating site with more users is more likely to find you a quality match than a dating site with fewer users.

Choosing a date also has something in common with the hiring process. Studies have shown that companies shy away from hiring someone who has been out of work for a long time, even if the person has appropriate skills. The company assumes that long-term unemployment occurs for a good reason and sees the person as "damaged goods." Likewise, if a person reaches a certain age and has never been in a serious relationship, potential partners make negative assumptions about him or her.

In the same way that you have to be careful about what you say on your resume because potential employers will make assumptions, you have to be careful about what you say on your online dating profile.