From my professor, Tyler Cowen (emphasis mine):
In a standard English auction participants keep on bidding until one person is left with an unambiguously highest offer.
In a Dutch auction, which is used to sell tulips, the auctioneer starts out with a high price and keeps on lowering it until someone bites. The auction then ends.
A large literature considers the conditions under which these two approaches yield the same expected revenue.
In terms of dating, if you run an English auction you go out with many people, if not simultaneously then relatively closely bunched in time, and you stick with the one who offers the most. If you run a Dutch auction you signal clearly your standards (lowering the standards over time if need be), and stick with the first person who bites.
I believe that strongly Christian women are more likely to run a Dutch auction. Perhaps non-religious women are more likely to run Dutch auctions as they get older.
More after the link.
Based on personal observation (and experience), I'd agree with Dr. Cowen. Most strongly Christian women I know have very high standards for conduct and character, which they do not lower, but may tend to become more open on other margins until "someone bites". However, I think many of them would complain that no one is biting.
For the most part, the Christian dating scene is much more like a Dutch auction (lower rates of dating while looking for the perfect match) than an English auction (dating prolifically until you find someone good). This of course leads to much complaining in the churches amongst the singles. I used to lead a men's Bible study when I lived in Orlando and many of them who were new Christians used to complain: "It was much easier to meet women before I became a Christian!"
There is much more that could be said on this issue, but I better stop before I get myself in trouble...
Question: Which strategy yields stronger, long-term, and happier marriages? Would the Dutch auction strategy leave people more or less prone to "buyer's remorse"?
1 comment:
good post. at my church the college aged people dated very little, then, when everyone was around 25ish, they all started marrying each other. my pastor once advised to date everyone you can, (his definition of a date included something like getting coffee), much more the english version. i think the ideal might be a combination, dating aggressively and often but never moving towards anything serious until someone has met your high standards. this is what i'm setting out to do. (i'm 21). the one thing i am afraid of is standards that are unrealistic, or, if i swing away from those, standards that are too low. i really don't have a good sense for what is ideal and what is realistic
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