Unsolicited love advice: The marriage supermarket

That title comes up on the Marginal Revolution blog where Alex Tabarrok has had a few posts inspired by this New York Times article on the effects of having women outnumber men at universities. And it's the New York Times so you know without even looking that it has been bad for women. Everything, according to the New York Times is bad for women and blacks; even when they win they lose. (If I were a woman or black I'd read something else.)

Anyway, Tabarrok wants us to understand why even a small imbalance can cause huge challenges. And he does so entirely in terms of self-interest:

Imagine ... a marriage supermarket. In this supermarket any man and woman who pair up get $100 to split between them. Suppose 20 men and 20 women show up at the supermarket, it's pretty clear that all the men and women will pair up and split the $100 gain about equally, $50,$50. Now imagine that the sex ratio changes to 19 men and 20 women. Surprisingly, a tiny change in the ratio has a big effect on the outcome.

As they say, go read the whole thing; it's interesting and informative as far as it goes.

BUT, as always, there is the Jane Austen point (and who better to consult when discussing a marriage supermarket?); that is to say there is the virtue issue. Virtue is not lost on the women the NYT interviews for the piece. They see the moral implications at every turn. Read it yourself and you'll see what I mean.