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The paper investigates the influence of sex ratio imbalances on the saving behavior of single young individuals in the marriageable age through three channels: spending for signaling display, saving for pre-marital investment, and saving for intra-marital transfers. Employing dynamic panel data models in a Life-cycle and Permanent Income framework, the paper finds that higher sex ratios discourage savings among American single young adults. In a cultural setting of high degrees of sociosexuality, meaning an openness to unrestrictive and short-term relationships, and under incomplete information, agents facing unfavorable sex ratios will consume conspicuously to signal their wealth and desirable qualities to potential mates. The paper supports the spending for signaling display theory of the marriage motive literature, and offers new insight on the impact of cultural differences on the economic response to a marriage squeeze.
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