Sure, New York City is filled with models and actresses, but what use is that to the vast majority of New York men who have no hope of ever dating them? Economist and quirky blogger Tyler Cowen, following up on a Washington Post profile of him, touches on this point to make an unusual argument. Cowen told the Post's Michael Rosenwald that despite Washington, D.C.'s image as a nerd town bereft of fun, it actually provides a better dating scene for men than New York. Here's his case:

I think it's better to date here if you are male. Government attracts a disproportionate share of intelligent women. I've never lived in New York, but there are so many celebrities, billionaires. If you are a guy in New York, there's always another guy that crushes you on the scale. Here, there are all these politicians but they are really out of commission for the most part -- or if they fool around, it's with interns. You don't have to compete with them. The people who are really high status are off the market. As a male in Washington, you can be high in status fairly easily without the true very high status competing. In New York or L.A., there are movie stars and directors. Even if a woman can't be with a movie star, women can still say, 'Gee, this guy or that guy is not a movie star or a director.' There's lobbyists and lawyers here, a lot of them. You can be more interesting than that. This is a great place to live.

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