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Author Archives: F. E. Guerra-Pujol
Should Marco Rubio or Ted Cruz drop out? (Republican Primary Prisoner’s Dilemma)
Our friend and colleague Steve Landsburg makes the following two observations on his blog: (i) “for either Ted Cruz or Marco Rubio to become the Republican nominee, he must first consolidate the anti-Trump vote, which is to say that either … Continue reading
Posted in Cooperation, Politics, Probability
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Game theory: the way forward? (part 3 of 3)
In our previous two posts, we identified a blind spot in the work of John Rawls and Bob Nozick: the problem of betrayal–what game theorists call “defection.” In brief, Rawls’s original agreement might embody timeless principles of justice, and Nozick’s … Continue reading
Posted in Cooperation, Game Theory, Law, Philosophy
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Rawls vs. Nozick (part 2 of 3)
In our previous post, we identified a weakness in Rawls’s theory of justice: the possibility of betrayal once the veil of ignorance is lifted. Now, let’s turn to Robert Nozick’s classic tome Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974), a book Nozick … Continue reading
Posted in Cooperation, Game Theory, Law, Philosophy
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A critique of Rawls and Nozick and a new way forward (part 1 of 3)
For the next three posts, we are going to offer a critique of John Rawls’ theory of justice (part 1), followed by a critique of Robert Nozick’s theory of the pre-political state (part 2), and then offer our own alternative … Continue reading
Posted in Cooperation, Game Theory, Law, Philosophy
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Metallica v. Napster (Lesson 10)
“Napster was the ultimate geek banner, a battle that had been fought by hackers on the biggest stage of all. Ultimately, the hackers had lost, but … it was still the biggest hack in history.” –Ben Mezrich, Accidental Billionaires (Ch. … Continue reading
Posted in Law
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Open borders
Via Valerio Vincenzo, check out these amazing and beautiful pictures of open borders in the Schengen area, a geographical zone consisting of a total of 26 European countries that have abolished their passport and border controls at their common borders. … Continue reading
Posted in Art, Culture, Law, Politics
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“Why don’t better movies cost more?”
This intriguing question was recently posed by economist Ashok Rao via Marginal Revolution. Personally, we have no idea, except perhaps “tradition”? So as a service to our friends and loyal readers, we are re-posting the following three blog posts on this puzzle: Why … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Economics
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Falsification, the Coase theorem, and the Apple iPhone case
Broadly speaking, the Coase theorem is a famous proposition from law and economics that postulates that conflicting parties will resolve their dispute by striking a mutually beneficial bargain when property rights are well-defined and when the costs of transacting are … Continue reading
prior probability 