Online dating apps have become a central part of the dating market over the past decade, yet their broader effects remain unclear. We analyze the impact of Tinder, the pioneer and market leader in the dating app space, on a segment of the population that was among the earliest adopters of this technology: college students. For identification, we rely on the fact that Tinder's initial marketing strategy centered on Greek organizations (fraternities and sororities) within college campuses. Using a comprehensive survey containing more than 1.1 million responses, we estimate a difference-in-differences model comparing student outcomes before and after Tinder's full-scale launch and across students' membership in Greek organizations. We show that Tinder's introduction led to a sharp, persistent increase in the frequency of sexual activity, but with no corresponding impact on the likelihood of relationship formation. Inequality in dating outcomes increased among male students but not among female students. Further, we observe a rise in the incidences of sexual assaults and sexually transmitted diseases. However, despite these changes, Tinder's introduction did not worsen students' mental health and may have even led to improvements for female students. These results suggest that the transformation of dating due to dating apps has far-reaching and nuanced effects on young adults.
This paper provides new evidence on the drivers of local government amalgamation and its effects on public goods provision, economic activity, and national identity. I focus on an administrative reform in Ukraine between 2015–2020, during which smaller local councils (LCs) could voluntarily amalgamate to retain a larger share of tax revenues and gain greater administrative autonomy. I show that pre-reform characteristics such as nightlight intensity, population, and the share of native Ukrainian speakers significantly predicted amalgamation, with evidence of homophily, where similar units were more likely to amalgamate. By estimating a difference-in-differences model, I find that the reform led to a cumulative increase in nightlight intensity per capita and higher district-level personal income tax collection, but no clear effect on standardized college exam scores in Ukrainian and math. A nationally representative repeated cross-sectional survey further reveals stronger self-identification as Ukrainian in rural areas with a higher share of residents in the newly formed hromadas, highlighting the reform's impact on national identity.