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Fleuellen Fleuellen is offline
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Fleuellen rea

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"A lemon is a defective car that is found to have numerous or severe defects not readily apparent before its purchase. ..."

Economist George Akerlof received a Nobel Prize for his work market of lemons and that markets may be afflicted by asymmetrical (unknown) information.

The “lemon problem” is essentially that those with defective cars are inclined to sell them for something more reliable. Buyers of used cars realise that sellers aren’t likely to be open about faults, so tend to bid lower for any used car. That is, they can’t tell good car from a lemon, so the price of all used cars is dragged lower. The problem is made worse because owners of good cars, see they are not going to get a for price for them, so are inclined to hang on to them. Thus, the proportion of lemons for sale is higher than might be expected from normal manufacturing deficiencies; hence drags the price of use car down even further.>>
What has this got to do with E-harmony? Well, dating is similar to any market, with buyers and sellers. Except the commodity is partners and the medium of exchange is the effort one expends in “looking.” I suppose checking out the “talent” in local bar, asking some cute or charming beau for their phone number, going out with niece or nephew of aunt Jones’ best mate, and looking over E-H profiles.

Now if one is a bit a “relationship gem” (however defined) they’ll tend to be taken out of the market (married) by being “spied out” in the class room, dance floor or “peace corps project.” Or perhaps they are displaced to a more rarefied dating market – “prestige market” in economic parlance.

Whereas “relationship lemons” will remain in play, including internet dating sites. This is not to suggest any hierarchy of dating mediums with internet dating at the bottom. Merely that “lemons” will remain in all dating mediums. The issue as to whether internet dating is more or less costly a search mechanism is another topic again. And there are too many improbables to make any useful assessment.

However, a possible conclusion is that potential dates/matches who remain longer term in any market, including internet dating sites are more likely to be lemons. And the “relationship gems” are going to be quickly removed from the market.

Therefore, should the date joined is probably one of the most useful pieces of information on any E-H profile.

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- October 5th, 2009, 03:26 am
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DiliG DiliG is offline
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Lets dissect cars and humans......

If one gives a lemon value to a human (lets say 30 years in age), then all humans over that mark should be mere lemons.......but then there is a quality that is not innately found in cars that applies to humans. The choice to be a lemon - especially if the dating pool does not contain candidates that align well with your list of 'desirable' qualities. I am not saying all people are choice lemons - I for one am not. Sometimes destiny works out that way (I am in this pool). That's what happens when you go to buy a car with too many friends and family. Too many opinions on why the car is a potential melon without even a test drive. Hasty judgments without due consideration and you may find that the number of lemons, be it cars or humans, will go up exponentially.
- October 5th, 2009, 03:47 am
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DennisWisconsin DennisWisconsin is offline
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I disagree with your premise... Someone in the dating pool longer may simply not have met the one they are looking for...

Additionally, when they did meet people, perhaps they weren't interested in an LTR.
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Last edited by DennisWisconsin; October 5th, 2009 at 05:23 am.
- October 5th, 2009, 05:19 am
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tweet37 tweet37 is offline
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Well, since eH markets itself as a relationship site, the OP may have a valid point if all the participants are looking for a LTR. There's really no way to confirm whether that's the case though.

I've never tried any other 'dating' site, but from what I've read here, a lot of them tend to be hook-up sites. Especially the free ones. You get what you pay for.
Last edited by tweet37; October 5th, 2009 at 06:04 am. Reason: btw Dennis, the link you posted is broken.
- October 5th, 2009, 06:03 am
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Gr8Guyn2008 Gr8Guyn2008 is offline
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I must be a lemon

Oh well, I still have hope that someone will want to make lemonade
- October 5th, 2009, 06:39 am
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TheThinker TheThinker is offline
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If your point is "all the good ones are married" or already in a relationship..I don't agree with that.
I was never one of those people who would say to someone "gee..why haven't you found someone yet??" And we all know the type...
Way, way too many things going on in peoples lives these days to automatically assume that if they are not "taken" they are defective or lemons as you say..
We could extrapolate that, I suppose and say that any married couple who choose not to have children must be "lemons" as a married couples also...that's crazy.
People have the right to lead their lives however they want.

With over half of marriages ending in divorce these days, I'm not sure I'd label anyone who's chooses to be single a lemon.
Many people put careers first and spend the early parts of their lives working on that...that's their choice.

wrote :
However, a possible conclusion is that potential dates/matches who remain longer term in any market, including internet dating sites are more likely to be lemons. And the relationship gems
wrote :
are going to be quickly removed from the market.

Therefore, should the date joined is probably one of the most useful pieces of information on any E-H profile.

I think this is a bit simplistic...you'd automatically have to assume that everyone is entering EH at the same point in their lives, emotionally.
We've read stories here where people are actually dating on EH while they are still married(separated)
You're saying these people are gems?

I wouldn't associate a recent "join date" with emotional stability.
Last edited by TheThinker; October 5th, 2009 at 07:55 am.
- October 5th, 2009, 07:44 am
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saulgoode saulgoode is offline
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The theme is this: The good ones go quick.

I think that's true, to a large degree.

The counter-point is this: The bad ones stay on the market longer.

I also think this is true, to a large degree.

It's our definition of "good" and "bad" that is at dispute here.

Good man = tall, successful, handsome.

Good woman = slim, successful, demure.

Perhaps the more accurate point would be that the socially popular people go first.

Ever see that movie, Young Frankenstein?

Remember the brain that Eye-Gore brought back to Dr. Frahnkensteen?

*Abbie Normal*

Yeah. That's the dating pool that's left after the good brains get picked.



And normal is so over-rated anyway, eh.


- Saul
- October 5th, 2009, 08:44 am
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Glider_Pilot Glider_Pilot is offline
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I'm constantly facinated by our seemingly endless need to develop "theories" and "formulas" that will somehow allow us to predict our dating future, allowing us to pick "the one" with ease and confidence.

It doesn't work that way.

Want success in dating? The 'forumula' is very simple in conception, if not in execution.

1) Be the best self you can be. Find your passions in life, and follow them. Discover where you're sabotaging your own success, and make the changes to you that will make that situation better.

2) Decide what your goals are in dating, and be honest about those. If you just want to get laid, fine. If you're looking for the love of your life, fine. But decide what you want and then be up-front and honest about it.

3) Put yourself in situations where you'll meet lots of people and have fun doing the things that you love to do. There is no deity in the computer that will come down and bless you with a perfect relationship. You've got to get out of the house and meet people. Lots of people.

There are no short cuts, there are no formulas. Any attempt you make to put dating in the realm of your head instead of the heart will only push you farther away from your goal, whatever it is.
- October 5th, 2009, 11:25 am
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landstar59 landstar59 is offline
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I disagree with this theory that the best "cars" go first and the rest are left to sit on the lot. First the car has to have the reasonable amount of ammenties that the purchaser is seeking. The car could be perfect in every aspect but be a stick shift when the purchaser wanted an automatic transmission thus making it lose its appeal entirely.

Same as in the EH dating pool. I think there are plenty of good men on this site that are totally dateable, yet they may be too young for me and that makes it hard for me to compromise my morals, standards or whatever you may term them. Then there are demographics involved that come into play. Now I think anyone can be a serial dater, dating everything that comes into sight. Does that exclude them from being a "lemon"? Not being afraid to spend sometime alone with oneself however long it may take to "iron out all the wrinkles" makes more sense to me. I think the effort one puts into becoming whole is more attractive. So if I am considered a "lemon" because I haven't had a date in two years...I hope the one that chooses me (and likewise) will bring along some sugar because we will be enjoying one cool tall glass of lemonade!
- October 5th, 2009, 01:07 pm
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shoopthedoop shoopthedoop is offline
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Ahh Fluellen, good post. Made me think back to the old intermediate Microeconomics days.

A real analogy between the Market for Lemons and online dating is tough to draw for a few reasons. Lemons deals with the problem of asymmetrical information in selling and purchasing a commodity.

The buyer/seller relationship is not there in finding a mate. A used car doesn't get a say in who buys it. The two-way nature of online dating and relationships makes time on the maket and quality of the good are probably weakly correlated.

Many of the information asymmetry problems that existed at the time of the original publication have been reduced with products such as Carfax (a complete history of the car -maintenance/accidents etc.)

If we could buy a report like Datefax everytime we were serious about someone we had met online than perhaps the Lemons problem might be more applicable.
W
- October 5th, 2009, 01:59 pm
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