Economic Wisdom to Apply in Your Twenties

Chapter 65

Chapter 8 Section 5
西安青年联合会与社会调查事务所对西安市100对即将步入婚姻殿堂的恋人进行了一次专项调查。调查结果显示，72％的准新人恋爱全过程的花费在12000～35000元，66％的准新人恋爱至今的花费在10000～15500元。

Statistics show that at the beginning of a relationship, men's various expenses account for 40% of the total calculation unit, and men basically pay for it.The main places of communication between men and women in the early stage of love are restaurants, coffee shops, bars, KTV and other entertainment venues. The gifts that express affection to each other are mostly flowers and chocolates.

In the middle stage of love, all kinds of expenses account for 25% of the total expenditure, and the ratio of consumption expenditure between men and women is roughly 6:4. At this stage, the lovers have basically established the relationship, and the consumption style gradually becomes rational from the initial frenzy.

In the later stage of the relationship, various expenses accounted for 35% of the total expenditure.At this time, the two parties began to prepare for the wedding, and the consumption was strongly targeted.Daily consumption of food and entertainment has been basically reduced to the maintenance level, and expenditures on home appliances, furniture, and daily necessities have increased significantly.

This is the survey result for an ordinary city like Xi'an.According to the analysis of relevant experts, the cost of love in big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou will be higher.

In your twenties, you may also be immersed in the sweetness and happiness of love, and you don't think about the matter of "love has a cost" at all.Indeed, love is noble and great. If you even talk about the cost of falling in love, you may think that economists are too ostentatious.But the fact is that most romances require material support, and carrying love to the end is, in the final analysis, a process of long-term investment in the cost of love.

I once told a joke: There was a man who didn't like his girlfriend, and his friend asked him: "Why didn't you propose to break up?" He replied: "I am reluctant to give her the big diamond."

This big diamond is the man's cost in love.Being in love always requires a lot of romance and dedication. In order to let girls understand his love, boys will use various methods to make girls happy, and the most direct way is to give gifts. "There is no girl in the world who does not love roses" is all boys.It is a well-known axiom that if there is an quarrel between the two, the boy can easily coax the girl to like her by sending bright roses, beautiful necklaces, etc., in exchange for forgiveness.

What about girls?From the previous statistical data, we may think that the man always pays more in love, and most of the cost of love is borne by the man.So, is it true that girls just enjoy the happiness and benefits of being in love blindly without any cost input?
I still have to repeat the old saying in economics: There is no free lunch in the world.The woman seems to be the one who accepts the man's investment in the relationship, but in fact, it is impossible for the woman to enjoy free happiness in vain.The gifts that girls give to boys may be more small gifts with little market value, such as hand-woven scarves, lucky stars folded by themselves, paper cranes, etc. These seemingly cheap small gifts contain A more scarce and expensive cost - girls' effort and time.

In addition, the youth value of girls in their twenties is much higher than that of boys of the same age in terms of utility and depreciation speed. As the saying goes, "men have 41 flowers, and women have [-] tofu dregs". The golden age of [-] years old is definitely the most expensive cost investment in love.

However, love is destined to be a game, and the result of this game is rarely without a loser.Unless the game of love rarely achieves a win-win situation where the two love each other happily and grow old together, in more cases it often ends in both losers or multiple losses.After a couple breaks up, whether it is the man or the woman, no matter whether it is money, feelings or time invested, it has become a "sunk cost" in economics.

A sunk cost is an irrecoverable cost that cannot be changed by any current or future decision because past decisions have already taken place.You may feel that the existence of sunk costs is unfair to the party who pays more emotionally.But it is precisely because of the existence of sunk costs that young people are reminded to treat their choices carefully, seriously consider the future between themselves and each other, and do not make promises, fall in love and get married easily.

There is a saying, "Experiencing a relationship is like eating chocolate. Even if you don't have to pay for the chocolate, you have to pay for weight loss." It is precisely because there is such a heavy cost in love that we must take relationships more seriously.At the same time, according to economic analysis, when the relationship lasts longer and everyone invests more time and money, we will cherish the relationship more and more, because we are afraid that there will be a day when the cost will sink in the future.

Wisdom Pieces: A Boy's "Love Bill"

Monday: I'm very busy during the day, and I don't have time to have dinner together.In the evening, I took a taxi from both ends of the city to meet at a bar, and it cost 60 yuan.

Tuesday: Call her during the lunch break and talk to her for half an hour, 4 cents per minute, 12 yuan in total.I have something to do at night, but we haven't seen each other.

Wednesday: I remembered that she said she liked that SWATCH watch, and bought it for her after get off work.Pay 340 yuan and get her happiness and a kiss.

Thursday: Meet at the coffee shop in the evening, eat western food, drink coffee, and pay 120 yuan after being warm and romantic.

Friday: Go shopping together after get off work, dinner Japanese cuisine 60 yuan.Later, I accompanied her to buy a skirt, a pair of sandals, and a bottle of whitening lotion. She only wanted me to give her the skirt, which was worth 198 yuan.

Saturday: I quarreled with her last night. Today I apologized and asked her out to an Italian restaurant for dinner. The 200 yuan dinner was delicious, and I went to see a 80 yuan movie afterwards.

Sunday: Cycling to the suburbs, renting a car costs 50 yuan, and she was a little tired when she came back. She suggested to eat Haagen-Dazs. "If you love her, treat her to Haagen-Dazs" ice cream. I used 128 yuan to prove my love.

(End of this chapter)