Finding a life partner is a complicated process that may take many years

Perfect competition, characterized by having many buyers and sellers, homogeneous products, perfect knowledge, and mobile factors of production and consumers, explains how markets should operate. Firms are considered to be price takers and cannot affect the supply curve of the industry; the more buyers and sellers there are in a market the better. Firms can produce the same goods, products, or services and when this happens each firms' charging price must be similar with the exception of external costs. Buyers and sellers are fully aware of the market that they are currently in as well as what they are buying or selling. The last characteristic of perfect competition explains that there are no barriers to enter or leave the market.

For life partners, let us consider the desire for a life partner to be the demand, and the population to be the supply. We cannot really affect the supply per say, as new births in a present generation will not immediately give us a higher supply of life partner candidates as they are not of age. The more women and men (or buyers and sellers) in the market, the better, as this means that there are more choices in life partners. Women and men are fully aware of the market and there are no barriers to enter or leave the market. They may choose to seek a life partner or remain single.