A Minimal Agent-Based Model of Online Dating Markets (1.0.1)
A minimal agent-based model of a heterosexual swipe-based dating market. Agents carry a latent attractiveness coordinate, perception biases, gender-asymmetric downward acceptance thresholds, and exogenous long-term/short-term mating strategies drawn from survey shares. Each period, singles sample opposite-sex profiles, pursue and accept via mutual-consent logistic rules, and accumulate utility from matches (with diminishing returns in partner count), loneliness, rejection, and strategy-mismatch penalties.
Parameters use a three-tier governance scheme: empirically anchored (Tier A), structurally grounded (Tier B), and calibrated assumptions (Tier C). Only three primary swipe moments are calibrated; a further fifteen platform statistics are emergent checks scored by calibration- and literature-distance (18-moment scorecard). The model is analysed for welfare inequality, including a negative-utility tail dominated by never-matched men.
The model is documented following the ODD protocol (see model/spec.md). Associated manuscript submitted to the Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation (JASSS), 2026.
Release Notes
Initial release accompanying the JASSS submission (Paper 1): minimal agent-based model of an online dating market with three-tier parameter governance, 18-moment validation scorecard, robustness analysis, and welfare-distribution outputs. Includes simulation core, calibration, analysis, and figure-generation scripts.
Associated Publications
Manuscript under review at the Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation (JASSS), 2026. Author details withheld for blind peer review.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.comses.net/codebases/19e2eb72-6e1e-422c-89cf-d5e807b1bec5/releases/1.0.1/