Lovenomics

Lovenomics

Love and economics are, surprisingly, compatible to a certain extent. Theories of both macroeconomics and microeconomics can clarify how love and its variables play a part in our life, despite the difficulty of interpreting emotional data to useful information. Although there is no real data to support my arguments, most of my conclusions are empirical.

Love is the feeling of attraction, infatuation, and indispensability towards someone. Love for those who experienced it, is the epicenter of their whole lives. For those who don’t have it, they are divided into two segments, the first segment is pursuing it desperately, and the other segment is indifferent about it. The question is what makes some people lose their minds, and centralize their whole life around it.

Two distinct factors determine a person’s love stance, which are supply and demand. When  an excessive amount of love is encountered, the supply exceeds demand, causing a surplus, that leads that person to be partially indifferent, or careless; however, its effects are short term. In the long run, the forces of emotions – neediness to love and be loved – apply downward pressure on the supply curve for love, and ends up at equilibrium. In contrast, when demand is higher than supply, there is a shortage, that is when laissez-faire kicks in, the market corrects itself by increasing supply – usually through a third party – a friend would try to hook up the friend in need. In other words, friends‘ intervention will increase the supply curve, and if lucky, this person will find the sufficient amount to reach a new equilibrium point, yet again.

In a love market, friends can play an instrumental role, similar to a central bank’s role in a real market. A central bank is responsible for, among other responsibilities, managing the supply of money in the market and controls the interest rates through numerous tactics. Friends, can also affect the supply of love through direct intervention. For instance, by fixing up dates, they increase the supply of love, or else if the friends were dysfunctional, their affects on the supply will be minimal. Therefore, a careful approach has to be applied when making friends, because in the love market, they can increase/decrease your chances to encounter love.

The love economy structure, or the Lovenomy, also differs from a culture to another. For example, in the Arab world, India, and some parts of China, families and social traditions and norms, sometimes, play the role of the central planner by arranging marriages, which de facto gives too little freedom to the person to choose his acquaintance; this a communist Lovenomy. while the western world believes in greater freedom and offers several love encounters until the person settles; which is basically a capitalist Lovenomy.

Another variable of great magnitude is love’s spillover effects. In economic spectrum, spillover  effects are externalities of economic activity or processes those who are not directly involved in it. Likewise, love’s spillover affects someone’s perspective in life, ceteris paribus, all of a sudden the glass seems half full; the trees are greener; the sky is brighter; and optimism takes over his life. However, spillover effects can be negative, too. When a person goes through tough times in his relationship, or breaks up, the negative effects spill to, almost, all of his life sectors. life is no longer desirable; the glass is half empty; the trees are pale; the sky is gloomy; and pessimism prevails.

In the end, it’s fairly plausible to say, economics and love, after all, share similar mechanisms, generally speaking. Nonetheless, the mystery of love and emotions can’t really be accurately explained as a science, because of the variation in personal experiences and the differences in its perception, but it was an attempt worth trying.