Designed for the Business, Non-Business, Economics, Non-Economics Major(s) to Explore and Understand a Variety of Real-World Issues.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Legalizing Marijuana
Would you like a brief summary of the issues surrounding the legalization of Marijuana? This is an excellent place to start (focus on the economic issues).
Since there is no subject for game theory I wrote this post under legalizing Marijuana because this topic is very popular among past American Economy classes.
Since the "experiment" today in class I have been thinking about the outcome and pros/cons to picking "high output" or "low output."
Here is what I concluded...
The only way it would have been smart to chose "high output" would be for a single situation where there are no more opportunities to run the game theory experiment game again. However, this is not the case for the class. Once we get our papers back we will know from what we chose and the extra credit recieved what our random partners have picked. So lets say the test outcomes are as follows.. Results Group 1 Low Output Low Output 2 - 2 Group 2 Low Output Low Output 2 - 2 Group 3 Low Output Low Output 2 - 2 Group 4 High Output Low Output 3 - .05
For the sake of simplicity I only created 4 groups. Now groups 1 through 3 will enjoy their 2 point extra credit gain (4 points as a group) and build some trust within their partner. They will keep recieving 2 points each for the last two papers. Which results in a net total extra credit of 12 points = 4 points for paper one + 4 points for paper two + 4 points for paper three.
For the person who chose "high output" you damaged the relationship of your partner and your partner now will have the incentive to put "high output" on the next two papers. Assuming the person who originally chose "high output" does it for the next 2 papers as well the net extra credit will be less than if that person did not chose "high output" for the first assignment. The group will recieve 3.5 points for paper one + 2 points for paper two + 2 points for paper three. This net extra credit total is 7.5 points which is 4.5 net extra credit points less than if the group members both chose "low output."
The last question that needs to be addressed is since the person who originally chose "high output" gained more than the rest of the groups on the first paper; will he or she indiviually profit at the expense of his or her partner. The answer is NO! Since that individual recieved 3 points on the first paper that is higher than the rest of the individuals in the class, but now that your parnter has the incentive to chose "high output" on the next paper in fear that they will get left with only .5 points again. Individually the "high output" person will only get 1 point for the next two papers. Their individual net extra credit is 5 points. 3 for the first paper + 1 for the second paper + 1 for the third paper. This is 1 point less than the groups who chose "low output" each time.
This is an interesting post. I think one main question is how much can you really trust your classmates to put low output. If you put "high output" it eliminates your chance of getting only .5 points. I say if you are not a gambler then put "high output" because you can never really trust anybody
Decriminalizing marijuana would save the federal and local goverments billions of dollars by not investigating, prosecuting and imprisioning users and growers. Also putting, essentially law abiding citizens through the criminal justice system simply because of marijuana, does not help protect society at large. Having the goverment make moral choices in what its citizens imbibe also interferes with our freedom of choice. Marlene
Since there is no subject for game theory I wrote this post under legalizing Marijuana because this topic is very popular among past American Economy classes.
ReplyDeleteSince the "experiment" today in class I have been thinking about the outcome and pros/cons to picking "high output" or "low output."
Here is what I concluded...
The only way it would have been smart to chose "high output" would be for a single situation where there are no more opportunities to run the game theory experiment game again. However, this is not the case for the class. Once we get our papers back we will know from what we chose and the extra credit recieved what our random partners have picked. So lets say the test outcomes are as follows..
Results
Group 1 Low Output Low Output 2 - 2
Group 2 Low Output Low Output 2 - 2
Group 3 Low Output Low Output 2 - 2
Group 4 High Output Low Output 3 - .05
For the sake of simplicity I only created 4 groups. Now groups 1 through 3 will enjoy their 2 point extra credit gain (4 points as a group) and build some trust within their partner. They will keep recieving 2 points each for the last two papers. Which results in a net total extra credit of 12 points = 4 points for paper one + 4 points for paper two + 4 points for paper three.
For the person who chose "high output" you damaged the relationship of your partner and your partner now will have the incentive to put "high output" on the next two papers. Assuming the person who originally chose "high output" does it for the next 2 papers as well the net extra credit will be less than if that person did not chose "high output" for the first assignment. The group will recieve 3.5 points for paper one + 2 points for paper two + 2 points for paper three. This net extra credit total is 7.5 points which is 4.5 net extra credit points less than if the group members both chose "low output."
The last question that needs to be addressed is since the person who originally chose "high output" gained more than the rest of the groups on the first paper; will he or she indiviually profit at the expense of his or her partner. The answer is NO! Since that individual recieved 3 points on the first paper that is higher than the rest of the individuals in the class, but now that your parnter has the incentive to chose "high output" on the next paper in fear that they will get left with only .5 points again. Individually the "high output" person will only get 1 point for the next two papers. Their individual net extra credit is 5 points. 3 for the first paper + 1 for the second paper + 1 for the third paper. This is 1 point less than the groups who chose "low output" each time.
The game is interesting though.
Scott Riegel
Christopher Yohannan
ReplyDeleteThis is an interesting post. I think one main question is how much can you really trust your classmates to put low output. If you put "high output" it eliminates your chance of getting only .5 points. I say if you are not a gambler then put "high output" because you can never really trust anybody
Christopher Yohannan
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteDecriminalizing marijuana would save the federal and local goverments billions of dollars by not investigating, prosecuting and imprisioning users and growers. Also putting, essentially law abiding citizens through the criminal justice system simply because of marijuana, does not help protect society at large. Having the goverment make moral choices in what its citizens imbibe also interferes with our freedom of choice.
ReplyDeleteMarlene