"The True Cost of a Date"

Let's just call this a change of pace, a respite, a bit of light humor for the economically inclined. It am referring to Ian Stanczyk's calculation of the true cost of a date. Link here. Via Simoleon Sense.

Stanczyk's focus is gainfully employed twentysomethings. He is not addressing the way the dating culture has been replaced by the hook up culture on college campuses. But it is not outrageous to think that it may have an application there too.

Economics has recently made important contributions to our general understanding of human behavior. More so than has psychology, in my view.

However much Stanczyk presents his study tongue-in-cheek, that is not a reason to dismiss it. After all, are we really all that confident that we know exactly what produces cultural shifts? And are we really ready to declare that there is not an important economic influence in the advent of hooking up and the diminished importance of dating?

Anyway, these are just some thoughts to mull over.