关键词: 相亲, 交易成本, 买入期权, 相亲经济

Abstract: Blind date is an act of mutual interest choice of both parties and most people tend to adopt a“looking upward”strategy. Blind dating，similar to buying a call option，presents five different situations：1.“follow the man you marry，be he fowl or cur”；2. be a live-in son-in-law；3. merge materials and properties of the two sides；4. seek spiritual blending；5. expect a marriage to alleviate poverty. The changes of family and social structures can be clearly seen from the blind-date perspective. Blind date，urban spatial agglomeration，and urban development are closely related to one another. The urban space and population aggregation propels the continuous increase of families ‘ living cost，and blind date further expands the cost and will reduce families’index of happiness. Blind-date economy is totally different from the market economy；the market economy can be optimized through resource adjustment by an“invisible hand”while the blind-date economy does not have such a hand to do so. Freedom to choose one‘s spouse，involvement of relatives or friends，and blind date are three different forces that can manipulate marriage and matchmaking behaviors during China’s urban and rural economic development process and the blind-date economy is more an endogenous variable.

Key words: blind date, transaction cost, option purchase, blind-date economy, urban development