Last summer, a video went viral showing a guy asking a girl out on a date via drone after seeing her dancing on a neighboring rooftop. Because the invitation came at the height of the first COVID lockdown, they began the date with a socially distanced dinner on their respective roofs, and later went for a romantic walk wearing a full-body bubble suit while the world watched over TikTok.
The video perfectly visualized that in the costs of finding a new partner had suddenly skyrocked. Prior to the pandemic, I had been on countless dates. Some dates I met at events or through friends and others on dating apps.
In March , everything changed. I needed to reconsider my dating strategy. How could I optimize the costs and benefits of finding a partner in a global pandemic? Luckily, I know a thing or two about high-stakes decisions. For the past 10 years, I have been researching optimal decision-making. As an assistant professor in economics, I teach game theory, the mathematical modeling of strategic decisions between people.
In my research, using big data and experiments, I try to answer two key questions: How can we predict what people will do in various situations? And how can we design policies that help them make better decisions? So maybe, I thought, I could put this knowledge to use in my private life.
As an economist, I have always appreciated the efficiency of dating appsβthousands of possible matches without leaving the house. Dating apps, which used to be a nice addition to making connections, suddenly became the most efficient and safest option for most singles in the world. So it was time to pay them some more focused attention.
