A 17-year old nerd asks the FT’s Tim Harford:
Dear Economist,
I am 17 years old and studying A-level economics. A lot of my friends are getting into serious relationships and I’d like to get a girlfriend myself, but I am also concerned about getting distracted from my studies. How does the cost-benefit analysis work out?
Ben, Buckinghamshire
I am amazed at the question but think it’s hilarious that an academic has researched this. Some golden nuggets:
Sex is fun:
…as the economist Joseph Sabia suggests in a forthcoming article, ”if the realised benefits of sexual intercourse are higher than the ex ante anticipated benefits, adolescents may substitute time and energy away from investments in human capital and towards investments in future obtainment of sex.
Girls are not distracted by sex:
Professor Sabia’s results show that a girl does not seem to be distracted at all by losing her virginity - perhaps because young boyfriends are not competent enough to be terribly distracting.
Boys are:
Be careful, though, because it’s different for boys. Professor Sabia finds that deciding to have sex will knock a few percentage points off your grade. That’s my excuse for doing so badly at maths, and I’m sticking to it.
