There's often a strange disconnect in these kind of discussions between 'bargaining power' in an abstract economic sense and more real-world understandings of p

There's often a strange disconnect in these kind of discussions between 'bargaining power' in an abstract economic sense and more real-world understandings of power - for example, it's somewhat of an economics truism that polygyny (multiple wives) improves female bargaining power, but it doesn't necessarily map that well to real-world improvements in female welfare due to all the other societal stuff. Migrating to the US similarly may make that wonderful 'bargaining power' a thing of the past... For this particular on-line dating case, the old Carnegie Tech saying comes to mind: "The odds are good, but the goods are odd". These mail-order brides may be getting to pick and choose among a wider pool, but it's a pool of guys who are still resorting to this model of meeting a wife...