When Inflation Creates a Cheap Date

You can see from the skyrocketing red line that more of us are meeting online:

The next step is typically a dinner. And that has become a problem.

Cheap Dates

WSJ tells us that restaurant meals will cost 17 percent more with alcoholic beverages equally pricey. As a result, a first in-person dinner date after some online communication through a dating app would typically cost $98 according to Zoosk ( a dating app). As one person points out in the article, “You don’t want to make a huge investment in someone you don’t know.” In addition, you might even want to appear fiscally responsible and aware of the higher cost of living and dating. As a result, almost half of the 8,000 single millennials and Gen Zers in a recent survey said they go on less expensive dates.

Some have said they prefer long walks–rather like this xkcd:

Our Bottom Line: Social Norms

Explained by behavioral economists, social norms are the informal rules that guide our behavior. For first dates, it used to be that you went for a meal and, for heterosexual dating, the man paid. Now, there is more prescreening through texts and video chats. The first date could be a long walk in the park or at the beach. And there is a discussion about who will pay.

As economists, we can say that inflation has created a slew of externalities that are changing our social norms. Beyond price increases, it has altered romance.

My sources and more: Thanks to the WSJ What’s News podcast for alerting me to their dating article. From there, their Money Briefing podcast also came in handy. And finally, I referred back to this 2019 Stanford and U. of New Mexico article on how couples meet.