Dear Admissions,

I noticed you asked for Valentine Day stories for prospective students who would really value insights on what it is like to be in a relationship as a grad student.

While COVID-19 has killed all my budding romances, SIPA is a wonderful place to meet driven and intellectual people. Some students come to SIPA to achieve their dreams whether it is to advance their careers and/or find the love of their life.

As we all know, these are extraordinary times. The COVID-19 pandemic has changed our educational experiences and our love lives. Long gone are the days where you would sit in IAB 411 in those uncomfortable plastic chairs that would spin if the person next to you moved. See image below.

 If you are lucky, perhaps you might bump elbows with that person next to you or bond over how terrible the chairs are. Or you might meet someone at one of many happy hours. Those free drink tickets can be your ticket to finding love as you awkwardly hold your glass while listening to your classmates complain about economics or quant.

I will take this opportunity to talk about the concepts learned from micro- and macroeconomics to explain the dating phenomena at SIPA. We will review three concepts: supply and demand shock, moral hazard, and adverse selection.

COVID-19 has shocked economies and markets around the world. Going back to the foundations of economics—supply and demand—demand in the dating market is VERY HIGH. As COVID-19 forced us to self-isolate, nearly every single Seepleton I knew hopped on dating apps to skim what’s available in the market. Another example of high demand driven by COVID-19 lockdowns is the huge increase in viewership on certain websites like Pornhub. The migration online demonstrates a collective effort to flatten the case curve—among other things. 

While demand has skyrocketed, the dating market has experienced a major supply shock. As one SIPA student put it, “It’s a desert out there—everybody is thirsty and the water is there, but you can’t touch or drink it.”

While dating apps act as an “invisible hand” to facilitate matchmaking, lockdown requirements have made it difficult. And while some couples have been able to make it work—zoom dates, quarantine couples—others have seen their love lives decline and crash like the stock market. 

As you will learn in microeconomics, markets are imperfect mainly because of asymmetric information. Asymmetric information can distort markets, reduce efficiency, and prevent mutually beneficial trades from taking place. This is why dating apps and blind dates are so scary.

This leads to the second economic concept—moral hazard. Moral hazard arises when an agent may take hidden actions that benefit them but hurt others. As Covid-19 vaccinations rollout and quarantine fatigue drive people to engage in riskier activity, we may see a rise in moral hazard.

Your date may not tell you that they tested positive just a week ago. Or your date may have told you that they were vaccinated, but only took the first dose. Remember, while vaccinations protect against severe symptoms, you may still be contagious. So while it may be tempting to go out and kick start your love life, spreading COVID or contracting it could figuratively and literally kill your love life.

A third concept is adverse selection. This is when buyers and sellers have different information, so one might participate selectively in trades that benefit them the most. From this, the market may figure itself out—laissez-faire.

What does this mean? Let’s conceptualize this using the wise words of Professor Paola Valenti in regards to the dating market. “If he is so good—why is he still single?”  So what does she mean by this?

In the dating market, buyers and sellers have different information on each other. As you will find out, the SIPA bubble is notorious for being a cesspool of gossip, chisme, tea, dirty dirt—whatever you like to call it. 

Pre-COVID times, SIPA students used to gather around the fishbowl on the fourth floor lobby of the SIPA building to spill the latest tea! The COVID-19 pandemic has only shifted these conversations from the fishbowl to WhatsApp groups. While the reliability and accuracy of the information on a particular love interest may vary, if we let the market do its magic, eventually, all the good ones will be snatched up. Therefore, you may hear the age-old complaint, “He’s either gay, married, both, or there’s something wrong with him.” This is adverse selection.

While the prospects for love at SIPA were disrupted by the COVID pandemic, and Valentine’s Day this year might be lonelier than usual, SIPA is still a great place to meet people. The great thing about Zoom classes is that you can stare at your crush all you want!

Therefore, this Valentine’s Day I’d like to wish you all a “Happy Quarantine Day.” (read it like valentine lol)" 

Sincerely,

The Love Economist