3 ms·
The Farmer's Dilemma is very clearly the same as the Public Goods Problem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good Sp
by YokoZar 11y ago
The Farmer's Dilemma is very clearly the same as the Public Goods Problem: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_good
Specifically, public goods are goods where there is a temptation to free ride. As illustrated in the article, this doesn't always mean 0 public goods get made even by perfectly rational actors -- sometimes it's worth it for someone to do it anyway (Imagine putting up a street light in front of your shop if your local government didn't do it for you.)
The Wikipedia page has dozens of possible solutions, both economic and social -- everything from government provision to buying out possible free riders to subsidies to social sanctions.
- baddox 11y agoIt's actually a special case of the public good problem. Most public goods aren't worth more to one individual than it would cost that individual to produce. A strong military defense for my country is a classic example of a public good, but it probably costs way more than it is worth to me. Yet it's still a public good because it is worth more to the entire country than it costs to produce.
- dragonwriter 11y agoThe public goods problem can be either the described Farmer's Dilemma or the Prisoner's Dilemma (its usually considered the latter, since the cost is usually greater than the benefit to any one individual from having the good provided, so that defecting is a dominant strategy, unlike with FD.)