Library Research Matching and routing
When Strengths Multiply, Pair Like With Like
Gary Becker modeled marriage as a market and found that when partners make each other more productive, you get the most total output by pairing the best with the best.
Gary S. Becker, 1973
Expected revenue from the same two reps and two leads, $ thousands
What he was looking at
Why would an economist study marriage? Gary Becker, the Chicago economist who took economic thinking into discrimination, crime and the family, saw people competing for partners as a market:
“since many men and women compete as they seek mates, a market in marriages can be presumed to exist” Becker, NBER reprint (1974), p. 300
In his model a household “produces” things like children and companionship out of time and goods, and people sort themselves into the pairings that produce the most in total.
What he found
So should like pair with like? Becker’s answer was that it depends on how the two partners’ traits combine:
“the association of likes is optimal when traits are complements and the association of unlikes is optimal when they are substitutes” p. 312
Traits are complements when each one makes the other more valuable. In that case the total is highest when the best pair with the best, and economists call that positive assortative matching. (Becker spelled it “assortive.”) Traits are substitutes when one can stand in for the other, and in that case mixing wins. The paper notes that people tend to marry partners like themselves in education, intelligence and height, but wage rates tend to pair the other way.
Becker’s work wasn’t popular at first. In his Nobel autobiography he wrote that it was long “either ignored or strongly disliked by most of the leading economists,” and that “I was considered way out and perhaps not really an economist.” He won the prize in 1992.
Later work added a caution. When finding a match takes time and effort, the pull toward pairing the best with the best can get weaker.
What it means
You can ask this of any pairing. Do the two sides multiply each other, or does one stand in for the other? If they multiply, putting the best together gets you more out of exactly the same people.
Where it shows up in a revenue team
- Reps and leads multiply. Expected revenue is close rate times deal value, so a great rep is worth the most on a great lead. That’s what the chart above shows.
- Round-robin and “next available” routing mix them on purpose, so you give up that gain.
- Check for substitutes. If your best reps add the most on small, hard deals, mixing wins. Your own data will tell you which one you have.
- Capacity matters. Pairing the best with the best only works if your best reps have room for the best leads when they come in.