I love this portrayal of these ideas through dialogue, great job.
Piggybacking the dialogue, I have a question about Caplan's theories, as I am not familiar with them:
In Israel, it is considered well-known that the immigration waves from the former soviet union brought about a highly skilled and educated (especially in STEM) population, who's effects on the Israeli industry are positive regardless of the specific job they chose. How does Caplan account for the tangible differences in outcomes between various education systems?
The quote is not countering the arguments.
The combined utility function implies the parties are a single unit finding the best approach to fill the preferences of all parties involved. The arguments above point that some relationship seekers don't see themselves as a single unit with their partner, and seeing themselves as such will be harmful for their own preferences, e.g., a short-term relationship or a non-negotiable belief system.
The concept of selfless relationships can definitely work and is useful for some, but the post makes a few assumptions that make it seem like this mindset towards dating and relationships is useful for more people than it is:
I think there was a misunderstanding, I was asking about the positive effect of former soviet union educated immigrants inside Israel, meaning compared to other jewish (most of them Ashkenazi) Israelis. The question of innate IQ is less relevant here.
It was only an example though -- what I'm trying to understand is does Caplan discuss the effects of better and worse education systems, or does he mainly argue that all of them are over-budgeted?