That is the title of my latest paper (sans exclamation point), which will be published in the next issue of The Journal of Strategic Contracting and Negotiation. The subtitle is “Bargaining and Betrayal in Breaking Bad,” and you can read it here (via SSRN) or here (via Dropbox). In this fun paper, I introduce the rules of a strategic bargaining game called “So Long Sucker” to help business school instructors convey strategic concepts and impart good negotiation skills to their students. (FYI: To give you some idea of how sinister this game is, it was originally called “Fuck Your Buddy.”) In addition, to further bridge the gap between negotiation theory and strategic reality, my paper identifies many commonalities between the game So Long Sucker and the strategic interactions in the critically-acclaimed TV series Breaking Bad. (Warning: the paper is full of spoilers, so don’t read it unless you have already seen the TV series.) Enjoy!
![Related image](https://hips.hearstapps.com/cos.h-cdn.co/assets/cm/14/25/53a04baddfe65_-_cos-breaking-bad-cast-xl.jpg?resize=480:*)
Well, darn. I keep meaning to watch the show.
It’s a great show! One of its main themes, in the words of the show’s creator, is that “actions have consequences”.
They sure do.