Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/206405 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
GLO Discussion Paper No. 422
Publisher: 
Global Labor Organization (GLO), Essen
Abstract: 
Research exploiting data on classic (offline) couple formation has confirmed predictions from evolutionary psychology in a sense that males attach more value to attractiveness and women attach more value to earnings potential. We examine whether these human partner preferences survive in a context of fewer search and social frictions. We do this by means of a field experiment on the mobile dating app Tinder, which takes a central place in contemporary couple formation. Thirty-two fictitious Tinder profiles that randomly differ in job status and job prestige are evaluated by 4,800 other, real users. We find that both males and females do not use job status or job prestige as a determinant of whom to show initial interest in on Tinder. However, we do see evidence that, after this initial phase, males less frequently begin a conversation with females when those females are unemployed but also then do not care about the particular job prestige of employed females.
Subjects: 
job prestige
partner preferences
dating apps
online dating
Tinder
JEL: 
J12
J16
J13
C93
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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