Over the past dozen years or so, speed dating has diversified to suit niche interests. There’s vegan speed dating, speed dating for Harry Potter fans—heck, there’s even speed dating for dogs.

But how often does speed dating generate an exchange of contact information and a date? And how do daters choose a potential partner?

SFU economist Lucas Herrenbrueck, who is interested in economic search-and-matching theory, recently used data from a 2005 speed-dating study at Northwestern University, Illinois to estimate how people make decisions during uncertainty.

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