UW-Madison

Optimal Association

We are interested in testing a model of social interaction for qualitative aspects. In particular, we
investigate patterns of sexual matches between men who have sex with men (MSM). MSM engage
in multiple short term relationships, the pursuit of which can be considered as repeated play of one
shot matching games among similarly motivated agents. The concept of such �sex marketplaces�
has been primarily pursued in a sociological or epidemiological context. However, to our
knowledge no work has been done in a game theoretic context emphasizing probabilistic short term
sexual behavior. More generally, little work has been done in economics to model sexual behavior
for its own sake.