Rip the Price Tags off Your Dates

Last Tuesday was Valentines day, and nothing moved my heart as much this post, “14 Ways an Economist Says I Love You.” This valentine was my favorite:

Dating Advice

Not everyone is going to think that is funny. Many may not even know what that means. So here is the layman’s translation: I want you, no matter what the cost.

That may seem a bit dramatic. Maybe we should save this one for the wedding day. But think about the message again. How many times is there a price tag on a date? I want to take you out to dinner, as long as the restaurant has three dollar signs or less on yelp. I want to take you to a movie, how about a matinee?

Obviously there will be fiscal price tags on dates. But you shouldn’t let your date sense that! Have the focus be on making memories and spending time together.

If she is artsy, walk around a historic part of town taking pictures. If she is crafty, find a local microbrewery and make your own wine or beer. If she likes to cook, go shopping at a local farmers market and then make dinner together. Alternatively, if he is outdoorsy, find a great place to go for a hike. If he is adventurous, drive around looking for historical markers – or depending on your location, civil war battle grounds. Someone has also recommended an afternoon at the gun range.

Bottom line, make the moments priceless, and then you won’t need to worry about the price tag.

Dating Advice for Conservatives

At the recent Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, DC, a new feature was added for the younger attendees – about dating for conservatives.

Commenting on the event for Red Alert Politics, I said,

The audience was overwhelmingly young, with curious students and curious journalists, all of whom were hoping for more declarative statements on how conservatives absolutely cannot date liberals. Turns out, Elise thinks you can, but he also thinks it doesn’t matter as much.

Whether or not conservatives and liberals could date was a major point of contention. In an interview with NPR, which you can listen to here, the conversation continued.

And don’t be afraid to look outside your own political circles for a partner. “People mostly stick to their own group,” he says, “and that’s a shame.”

CPAC attendee Jacqueline Otto agrees, but only up to a point. “What wouldn’t work is if you’re a conservative and the other person just doesn’t care,” she says. “The other person doesn’t value what it means for you to be conservative.”

What’s important, says Hawkins, is that there’s room for amicable debate. “It has to be the sort of thing where they’re OK with you thinking Al Gore’s a moron, and you’re OK with them not liking Sarah Palin,” he says.

Dating Advice

You can absolutely, totally date someone with different political opinions. As long as the debate doesn’t get personal.

The upside with that situation is that you both will have the same point of interest, being economics and politics. Having different opinions will ensure hours of interesting and lively conversation. As John Hawkins told NPR, you both have to be OK with the other holding different, honest opinions. And as long as the relationship remains honest and respectiful, it could totally work.

The downside is that there are no guarantees that it will work. There are never guarantees in any dating situation that anything would work. It really does all depend on the individuals involved and your relationship.

I know, that was really helpful. But hopefully you will be encouraged to break out of your circle, and give that liberal guy a chance. Or libertarian girl.

Do you have any recommendations? Feedback? Let us know on Twitter @EconDating

The Economics of Valentine’s Day

Dating Lesson

According to Professor Chris Coyne of George Mason University, there are three economic principles that are illustrated by Valentine’s Day:

Read the rest of his lesson at LearnLiberty.org. Even if you do not have a Valentine, enjoy the day!

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3 Ways Inflation Affects Dating

Inflation is an increase in the overall level of prices. The classic example of hyperinflation is Germany in 1923, when prices increased an average of 500 percent per month.

“Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon.” Milton Friedman

Well, not to disagree with the Nobel Prize winning economist, but on this blog there are at least three ways inflation is also a dating phenomenon.

Dating Advice

1. Rising Costs of Dating

I am woman who never pays for dates. At least I’ve never had too. So from personal experience, this is overwhelmingly a man’s problem.

At my high school, student groups would sell single carnations as fundraisers for Valentines Day. Getting a carnation (preferably every period) was highly desirable. A single carnation, with the accompanying card and candy cost $3. I have no idea what the going price of a carnation is today, but I do know that a desirable date for valentines is a lot more expensive.

Now granted, this is partially to do with the fact that we are all getting older. But how much of this is dating inflation? Is it true that the more dates we go on, women, the more expensive dates we expect? How about the men. Have you noticed that you spend increasingly more on dates?

2. Hyperinflation of the Heart

Ok, “hyperinflation of the heart” may not be a commonly used phrase. But it should be synonymous with “head-over-heals” and “twitter-patted.” When countries, like Germany in 1923, are experiencing hyperinflation it can be difficult to have an appropriate and accurate understanding of economic value. When people are experiencing “hyperinflation of the heart,” they struggle to have an appropriate and accurate understanding of a person’s value.

If you allow your view of a person’s value to increase at a rate that is out of control, you will be doomed for an emotional collapse. Not to mention a debasing of the currency. The currency of relationships is trust.

3. Umm… Oops.

Couldn’t resist. Sorry!

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Laffer Curves of Dating

This is a reader recommended blog! J.W. Isaacs‘ recommendation was to use a Laffer Curve and “replace tax % on the x axis with expectations and replace tax revenue with results.”

The basic lesson is that there is an optimum tax rate for government revenues before the tax burden starts hurting the economy and government revenues fall. While this may be an intuitive idea, the economist Art Laffer changed the political debate about taxes when he first drew up this curve on a dinner napkin.

Dating Lesson

Ok, so per the recommendation, we are replacing “tax percent” with “expectations” and “government revenue” with “dating results.” Which makes the statement,

There is an optimum expectation for dating results before the level of expectations starts hurting the relationship and results fall.

How true.

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The Need to Utilize Multiple [Dating] Models

Today, we bring in the big guns.

“Although Economists use models to address all these issues, no single model can answer all questions. Just as carpenters use different tools for different tasks, economists use different models to explain different economic phenomena. Students of macroeconomics, therefore, must keep in mind that there is no single “correct” model that is useful for all purposes. Instead, there are many models, each of which is useful for shedding light on a different facet of the economy. The field of macroeconomics is like a Swiss army knife – a set of complementary but distinct tools that can be applied in many different circumstances.”

Dating Lesson

The perfect dating model doesn’t exist, (despite the fact that Heidi Klum is apparently single).

This kind of model.

NOT this kind of model.

While there absolutely are wrong dating strategies, there is no such thing as the perfect dating strategy.

This blog will never tell you that anything is guaranteed to work, because economists never talk in certainties! Dating, just like economics, depends on the decisions of unique individuals. The decisions can never be predicted with 100% accuracy, because people will always insist on doing what they want to do despite the fact that it flies in the face of our models. The only thing that can be predicted with certainty is that the results can never be predicted with certainty.

Therefore, don’t be beholden to a single dating strategy. Nothing will work in every situation, with every person, all the time. Never. Ever.

If what you are doing isn’t working, do something different! That may mean putting the word out to your friends that you would be open to being set up on a blind date. It may mean being more intentional about going to social events. It may mean [gasp] online dating.

Or you may have other ideas of your own to try. The point is that you are going to have to employ different dating models. And that should not scare you.

You should have a Swiss army knife of strategies – a set of complementary but distinct tools that can be applied in many different circumstances.

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Supply and Demand Haikus

Professor Carden’s haikus are,

The Law of Supply:

All else held constant

Quantity supplied goes up

When the price rises.

The Law of Demand:

All else held constant

Quantity demanded falls

When the price rises.

Dating Lesson

There are plenty of “dating lessons” that can be extrapolated from the economic laws of supply and demand. But I’ll save those for future blog posts. For now, I wrote a haiku of my own:

For Women:

All else held constant

Dateable men will decrease

When standards rise

For Men:

All else held constant

Dateable women decrease

When standards rise

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Two Ten, Net Thirty

In business, “two ten, net thirty” is a common agreement. It means that if a I bought something from you, the buyer (me) would get a 2 percent discount if I pay the total balance within ten days. If I don’t have the cash in time to make the discount period, I absolutely have to pay you within 30 days.

To some of us super-savvy discount seekers, 2 percent doesn’t sound like a very good deal. I mean there is probably nothing in your Etsy store that a 2 percent discount is going to make me buy. But if you and I were Walmart and Rubbermaid, a 2 percent discount suddenly becomes five or six figures. Now that’s a bargain!

Dating Lesson

But you and I are not Walmart and Rubbermaid. And when dating, we will not be paying off large purchases between ourself and our significant others.

The currency of a relationship is trust. And exchanges are made when one party promises to do (or not to do) something for the other.

We have all been there. And let’s be honest, this is mostly a girl problem. Your boyfriend promised to  fix your creaky door – three months ago. He offered to go to the store, for which you gave him some brownie points, but came back having completely forgotten what it was you needed.

But guys have experienced this too. She promised to stop bugging you about [insert guy thing here], but she still calls you about it. She offered to let you pick the movie more often, but never has.

If you are in a steady relationship with someone, you need to establish expectations for when they will follow through with what they promised. Think two ten, net thirty. Lets go back to the creaky door,

Girlfriend, “Honey thank you for offering to fix my creaky door. I would really like it to be fixed this week, but I absolutely need it fixed before the party next month.”

If he gets it done in the week, there needs to be some sort of discount. You could actual bake him cookies or something, but at least be extra thankful. Boyfriend, shoot to get it done in that week. It will build trust, and she might bake you cookies or something. But definitely get it done by the deadline; not doing so will lose trust.

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Net Worth

The accounting equation is,

Assets = Liabilities + Equity

Using algebra, we can move that around a bit.

Equity = Assets – Liabilites

When looking at personal wealth, “equity” is better called “net worth.”

Net worth = Assets – Liabilities

Dating Lesson

OBVIOUSLY, a person’s value is not determined by their net worth. In fact, compared to a person’s sense of humor, hopes, dreams, attitudes, beliefs, etc., it could be one of the least important variables in deciding whether someone is dating material. BUT questions about finances are often avoided because people think they may be awkward. Well, they will be.

But common sense demands that you ask the questions before you ask the question.

Here are some things to start you thinking:

That may be a great car, but how long will he be paying on it? He lives in a great location, but how long is tied to that lease? He may be a lawyer, but ask how much school debt he is still owes!

Guys, same questions. No, these are not first date questions. Yes, it may kill the romance at the moment. But nothing kills the romance faster than, “Honey, I love you. But we’ll be paying off my debt for ten years.”

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