William Leith6 February 2014
Since the financial crisis of 2008 I’ve read lots of books on markets — what’s good about them, and also why they don’t always work. Here William Nicolson applies market theory to the world of dating. After a woman dumps him, he finds himself having a chat with his friend Flora. “You’ve got to play the game — play hard to get,” she says.
This gets him thinking. Flora’s advice sounds a lot like basic price theory — when you reduce the supply of something, the price will go up. Also, if your date looks too good to be true, he or she probably is. That’s the “efficient market hypothesis”. Economic theory illuminates the world of dating; the reverse is also true.
