Playing the Love Market : Dating, Romance and the Real World Paperback / softback

This book directly addresses the question of what is causing people, regardless of their sexuality to use more commercial means of searching for potential partners.

The authors do this in a straightforward, realistic but generally neglected view by psychologists, sociologists, and other personal relationship professionals.

They investigate the effectiveness and personal cost of searching for partners by different methods; how people trade off age, physical attractiveness and financial resources against each other; the risks of different dating methods; and the differences in the market for same-sex dating partners.

While existing studies and guides to the dating process typically bypass the simple, inescapable and essential features of the way human beings proceed to instigate and assess relationships, the bottom line is that there is a market for potential relationship partners, in which individuals have to function to acquire dates.

Like any market there is a supply and demand for the 'good' in question.

This book shows how simple economic reasoning can explain many of the characteristics of the market for dating partners, and also suggest strategies for effective participation in this market.