POLSCI 331 Study Guide - Fall 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Baltimore Stars, Utilitarianism, Invisible Hand
12 Oct 2018
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Department
Course
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POLSCI 331
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
Game Theory and Prisoner’s Dilemma
Class Introduction 8.25.15
Classical prisoner’s dilemma
Prisoner B Snitch
Prisoner B Silence
Prisoner A Snitch
5 years/5 years
Free/1 years
Prisoner A Silence
10 years/Free
5 months/5 months
No matter what B does, snitching is A’s best choice. A will either get 5 or years if B snitches, or he will
be free or 5 months if B is silent.
The Nash equilibrium:
In game theory, the Nash equilibrium is a solution concept of a non-cooperative game involving
two or more players, in which each player is assumed to know the equilibrium strategies of the other
players, and no player has anything to gain by changing only their own strategy.
In this case, the Nash equilibrium is: A and B both snitch.
Pareto efficiency, or Pareto optimality:
A state of allocation of resources in which it is impossible to make any one individual better off without
making at least one individual worse off
In this case, the Pareto optimal choice is: A and B both stay silent.
A situation is a Prisoner’s Dilemma only when the Nash equilibrium is not the Pareto optimum.
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Thomas Hobbes Leviathan
Lecture Notes
Hobbes is a materialist – matter and motion
Bees and ants have a natural lust for one another = they’re clones, asocial insects
o Similar to cells in a single body – a single interest
Start out with individuals
If a political society makes us better off than the state of nature, then we owe it deference or
obedience
o Not because of morals
o But because it’s rational to maintain this political society
o Different from Locke who believes the government should allow the expression of natural
rights
▪ Locke is more of a hypothetical consent theorist
• Hypothetical consent gives you an actual obligation to obey laws
Natural right = unlimited liberty
Steven pinker?
Hobbes believes that states are the only source of social order
o Elinor Ostrom – informal social norms in smaller groups are almost always synonymous
with property rights
▪ Sometimes even more efficient
Norms that help avert prisoners’ dilemma
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
No matter what b does, snitching is a"s best choice. A will either get 5 or (cid:883)(cid:882) years if b snitches, or he will. Prisoner a silence be free or 5 months if b is silent. In this case, the nash equilibrium is: a and b both snitch. A state of allocation of resources in which it is impossible to make any one individual better off without making at least one individual worse off. In this case, the pareto optimal choice is: a and b both stay silent. A situation is a prisoner"s dilemma only when the nash equilibrium is not the pareto optimum. Hobbes is a materialist matter and motion. Bees and ants have a natural lust for one another = they"re clones, asocial insects: similar to cells in a single body a single interest, but because it"s rational to maintain this political society.
