人力资本与劳动经济研究中心

Center for Human Capital and Labor Market Research

Applied Microeconomics Seminar Series

Spring 2025

讲座题目：Cross-Gender Interaction and the Mating Market Dynamics: Evidence from a Sex Education Field Experiment

报告人: 崔知涵

内容摘要：Does cross-gender interaction influence mating market and hence population dynamics? We answer this question with a field experiment where 946 university students were randomly assigned to 256 study groups in a sexual health education course. The results reveal that group gender diversity significantly alters mating dynamics: Being assigned to a gender-balanced group instead of a homogeneous one lowers the likelihood of being in a romantic relationship (by the end of the semester) by 7 percentage points. Interestingly in contrast, the treatment raises the likelihood of having an interest of building a romantic relationship in the future by 12 percentage points for male students who are not in one in the study period. These point to an increase in search friction in the mating market. We further discover unintended consequences related to fertility: The treatment lowers the chance of wanting to have at least one child by 4 percentage points. We explore potential mechanisms by investigating the treatment effects on interactions and social opinions: Increased cross-gender interaction makes male students more competitive in showing effort in a midterm group task, and it makes female students more sympathetic towards men; moreover, it makes it easier for both male and female students to find company in leisure activities. The findings suggest the possibility that cross-gender interaction outside of a romantic relationship may substitute that in one. We also distinguish gender spillover effects from gender peer effects. Our results highlight a novel channel through which search friction in a mating market is generated.

报告人简介：崔知涵，北京大学全球健康发展研究院助理教授。研究方向为行为与实验经济学、健康经济学、卫生管理与政策。

时间：2025.5.9 周五12:30-13:45

地点：学术会堂（南楼）608

撰稿人：张亿

审稿人：陈玉龙