Happy Birthday? Age Labels, Search Criteria, and Matching from Dating to Marriage
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摘要
Age is a match trait and a prominent label on search platforms, and the birthday-driven display-age update alters who becomes visible, who is contacted, and how relationships progress. Using confidential IBJ marriage-platform records, the study documents that a one-year birthday age increment mechanically shifts receivers across proposers’ age filters, with only modest overall changes to top-of-funnel eligibility, but meaningful re-sorting within the eligible pool. Applications tend to rise modestly, yet the composition shifts toward older suitors, and for female receivers ages 31–40, the transition into early dating sees a notable decline in proposals. The analysis separates three margins—eligibility, applications, and continuation—showing that age labels not only affect who is reached but also who ultimately forms matches. Importantly, treating all active opposite-side members as an opportunity set substantially overstates actual matchmaking opportunities (the wedge is about one-third under no-birthday accounting), and downstream effects vary by gender and age. The findings emphasize how platform interface rules and explicit search filters shape both the level and the composition of marriage outcomes, highlighting the non-neutral role of age labels in long-horizon relationship formation [page::1][page::3][page::9][page::23][page::31].
