Something Very Interesting About Speed Dating

I've been thinking of doing speed dating for a while now, if only as a social experiment.

I'm currently reading The Logic of Life by Tim Harford (who I happened to miss when he was in Melbourne Business School last month). He has a very interesting chapter on dating and marriage. A few interesting bits:

• men will usually pick 1 in 5 women to date in speed dating. Women: 1 in 10
• men will select 1 in 5 regardless of the actual talent pool, i.e. we will lower our standards
• young, single women tend to congregate where men earn the most money, i.e. in the cities. This creates an abundance of single women.
• the high incarceration rate of young black males is one reason why African-American females are more likely to go to college.