Communication Technology Advance and Consequences: Using Two-sided Search Model

Does communication technology advance, such as online dating sites and social networking services, really make us happier? In this paper, I construct a non-stationary two-sided search market equilibrium model to analyze the quantitative effects of the communication technology advance on individuals’ marital behavior and social welfare. In the model, I include cohabitation as well as marriage as an individual choice, and provide a new identification argument for separately identifying parameters that have been considered important but difficult to identify, with new proof of the existence of the non-stationary market equilibrium. Using the National Longitudinal Study of the High School Class of 1972 and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, I quantify the effects of the communication technology advance on society and reveal which types of individuals benefit from it.