Bi-Weekly Discussion - The Economics of Sex

I wasn't able to book the side room at the Good Karma Café, so I've switched our meeting place to an outdoor venue -- the Washington Square Park, between 6th & 7th Streets on Walnut in Olde City. Luckily, I checked the weather report and it should be nice & sunny, and although it'll be in the 80s there's plenty of shaded areas in the park. Please just remember to bring a folding chair or picnic blanket so sit on. You can also bring any type of food or drink you want, although I don't think alcohol is allowed in the park.

The park is fairly easy to get to if you're using public transit. With SEPTA, take the Market-Frankford Line & get off at the 5th Street Station (corner of 5th & Market), and walk 2 blocks south on 5th and then turn right on Walnut Street and walk 1 block west. With PATCO, just get off at the 9th-10th & Locust stop and walk 3 blocks east. For those who are driving, parking in the neighborhood can be tough to find. If you can't find a spot on the street, I'd suggest parking in the Washington Square parking deck at 249 S 6th Street which is just a half block away.

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THE ECONOMICS OF SEX: CONSIDERING DATING & MARRIAGE AS MARKETS

This meetup will address some current political debates surrounding sexual norms, dating, marriage, and prostitution from an economic perspective (labor markets, barter economy) and a game theoretical perspective (i.e. Prisoner's Dilemma and Nash Equilibrium). We'll also look at how the dating & marriage markets are effected by 4 factors: beauty, age, socio-economic status, and race. (In our next discussion on July 22nd, we'll cover some related topics such as the decline in the marriage rates & birth rates in developed countries and what that means for our economy & society.)

The articles & videos you see linked below are intended to give you a basic overview of the major points in the debates over technological progress. As usual, I certainly don't expect you to watch all the videos & read all the articles prior to attending our discussion. The easiest way to prepare for our discussion is to just watch the videos linked first under each topic, which come to about 32 minutes total. Hopefully, that doesn't seem like too much time to invest if you're really interested in these issues. You can browse and look at whichever article you want, but don't worry - we'll cover the stuff you missed in our discussion.

(Over the next couple days, I'll provide some notes under the articles that summarize their major points so you don't even have to read them unless you want to.)

In terms of the discussion format, my general idea is that we'll address the 5 topics in the order presented here and we'll spend about 30 minutes on each section.

DID THE BIRTH CONTROL PILL SPLIT THE DATING & MARRIAGE MARKETS? COULD FEMALE COLLUSION TO WITHOLD SEX FIX THIS?

1. Austin Institute, "The Economics of Sex" (video - 9:55 min.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cO1ifNaNABY

• Christa Sterbenz, "The 'Economics of Sex' Theory Is Completely Wrong" (short article)

http://www.businessinsider.com/economics-of-sex-video-debunked-2014-2

• Timothy Reichert, "Bitter Pill" (medium-length article)
  https://www.firstthings.com/article/2010/05/bitter-pill

• Jules Aimé, "The bitter pill?" (short blog post)

http://julessearchforvirtue.blogspot.com/2010/04/bitter-pill.html

HOW MATH & GAME THEORY MAKE FINDING LOVE MORE COMPREHENSIBLE BUT ALSO MORE DEPRESSING: THE PARADOX OF CHOICE, OPTIMAL STOPPING THEORY, THE ELIGIBLE BACHELOR PARADOX, "SETTLING" AND MONOGAMY AS THE PRISONER'S DILEMMA:

2A) Eric Klinberg, "The paradox of choice — how dating apps are ruining dating" (video - 1:50 min.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv4UBO2xjYs

2B) Julia Wilde & Trace Dominguez, "Is Settling Better Than Dating Forever? " (video - 3:53 min.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNhONkYA_F8&t=62s

• Tyler Cowen, "Why are there so few eligible bachelors?" (short blog post)
  http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2008/04/why-are-there-s.html

• Jessica Grose, "You Don't Have To Settle - What Lori Gottlieb's new book gets wrong about successful single women" (short article)

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2010/02/you_dont_have_to_settle.html

• Athol Kay, "Game Theory: Marriage, Dating, The Manosphere As Prisoner’s Dilemma" (short blog post)

http://marriedmansexlife.com/2010/03/game-theory-marriage-dating-the-manosphere-as-prisoners-dilemma/

HOW BEAUTY & AGE PLAY INTO "SEXUAL MARKET VALUE":

3. Dan Ariely, "Who You Find Attractive Is Based on How Hot You Are" (video - 6:46 min.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzG0_aU_Fn0

• Will Self, "Honey Money: The Power of Erotic Capital by Catherine Hakim – review" (medium-length article)

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/aug/19/honey-money-catherine-hakim-review

• Greg Wolfman, "Metrosexual, hipster, spornosexual: why do we keep redefining men?" (short article)

https://theconversation.com/metrosexual-hipster-spornosexual-why-do-we-keep-redefining-men-72444

• Susan Walsh, "The Conclusive Data on Male vs. Female Sexual Market Value" (short blog post)

http://www.hookingupsmart.com/2013/10/31/relationshipstrategies/conclusive-data-male-vs-female-sexual-market-value/

HOW SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS EFFECTS THE DATING & MARRIAGE MARKETS:

4. Laci Green, "Money CAN Buy Love" (video - 2:42 min.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adWX2KWg5jw

• Alana Semuels, "When Factory Jobs Vanish, Men Become Less Desirable Partners" (short article)

https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/03/manufacturing-marriage-family/518280/

• Emine Saner, "The dating gap: why the odds are stacked against female graduates finding a like-minded man" (medium-length article)

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/nov/10/dating-gap-hook-up-culture-female-graduates

HOW RACE & RACIAL BIAS EFFECT THE DATING & MARRIAGE MARKETS:

5. Roaming Millennial, "Are Racial Dating Preferences Racist?" (video - 6:31 min.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7ULsaUL7Vg

• Aaron Sankin, "The weird racial politics of online dating" (medium-length article)
  http://kernelmag.dailydot.com/issue-sections/features-issue-sections/11404/online-dating-tinder-racism/

• Wendy Wang, "Interracial marriage: Who is ‘marrying out’?" (short article)

http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/06/12/interracial-marriage-who-is-marrying-out/

• Thomas Rogers w/ Ralph Richard Banks, "Is Marriage For White People?" (short article)

http://www.salon.com/2011/09/04/marriage_and_race_interview/