[alistairSH]

It maybe shouldn’t. But I don’t think corruption is or in this case would be a real issue.

I'd be more concerned about aligned incentives. A (modern, democratic) government exists to help maximize the social welfare of the governed. Is there enough societal gain to be had by entrusting mate-matching to the government? And are those gains in sync with the goals of the individuals?

Fictional example: In a politically polarized society, there might be a benefit to matching extremists with either moderates or extremists from the other end of the political spectrum.

Another: In order to bring economic balance, the government might decide to match the wealthy with the working class.

[mattmaroon]

Well, a lot of people are concerned about the low birth rate, and a good online dating app might be helpful. And a not-for-profit model might actually be the best way to accomplish that.

I am neither sure that the common claim of why online dating is broken is true, nor that a government-run app is a good idea. Im just sure the “our government is incompetent and corrupt” argument is drastically oversubscribed to.

You know what government is 100 times as corrupt and incompetent as ours? Cuba. And they make some of the finest cigars and rum in the world. Surely ours could come up with something better than Tinder.

[alistairSH]

I get the impression the birth rate is a function of cost, not opportunity.

Sample bias ahead: My friends are mostly married. Those that have zero or one child did so because of the cost (both in real dollars, opportunity cost, and general pain-in-the-ass of raising children in the US today), not the inability to find a suitable mate.

[mattmaroon]

Well sure, it’s not a total solution by any means, but there are people (including myself) who want kids but never had them because they didn’t find the right person with which to do so.

One only needs to increase the birth rate by about 25% to get back to population growth, so good online dating could probably make a meaningful impact. I am sure things like free health care and child care would be much better but they’d also be much more expensive, a decent online dating app could easily be at least budget neutral.