We examine shifts in the U.S. marriage market, assessing how online dating, demographic changes, and evolving societal norms influence mate choice and broader sorting trends. Using a targeted search model, we analyse mate selection based on factors such as education, age, race, income, and skill. Intriguingly, despite the rise of online dating, preferences, mate choice, and overall sorting patterns showed negligible change from 2008 to 2021.

Fecha: Martes 30 de enero de 2024
Hora: 12:30 a 1:50 p.m.
Lugar: Salón W-101

In the Antebellum United States, “free soil” areas had greater economic development than the areas where slavery was legal, yet free farming did not displace slave-based agriculture in the slave states. Was free soil a “magic dirt,” or could free farms compete in the slavery-legal region? We consider three classes of tests. First, we construct, separately for the two regions, suitability indices using soil and climate endowments. The indices suggest free-soil techniques could have prospered in the Upper South.

Hard discount stores (HDS) have changed the dynamics of the traditional retail sector by selling a basket of products at very low prices. This business model has gained significant market shares in many countries, but little is known about its impact on the labor market. To fill this gap in the literature, we study the impact of the entry of hard discounters on local labor markets in Colombia.

This article presents a theory of lifetime welfare, considering the corresponding cycles, trends, and span. The model suggests that economic agents should focus more on smoothing the mean welfare of individuals than on smoothing their consumption and their income, since they are not the same. Given that private and public decisions can generate internalities and externalities, and thus, inefficiencies, these results can justify individual, social, and Government interventions, for example in lifestyle, and the education, health, pension, and insurance markets.