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Aine Seitz McCarthy
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Why potluck dinners work in Minnesota

4/1/2012

1 Comment

 
An interesting discussion of the commons dilemma by a fellow nerd, Applied Economist Justin Andrew Johnson. As a brilliant programmer-turned-economist, his website is totally superior (module integration?), better organized (multi-user controls?) and so much prettier (agent-oriented design?).

He applies the infamous tragedy of the commons to his support for the graduate student union (GSUW/UAW). It's very well articulated and part of a two-part series on the graduate student union, following a first post, ironically called "The worst place we should have a union."

Interestingly, the union failed to pass during a vote last week. But that doesn't keep us from discussing it.  Note that JAJ's argument in favor of supporting the institutions that uphold successful commons (ones that don't end in tragedy, that is) would require that you agree that there exist market failures and commons tragedies in the areas that the UAW supports (namely health care, environmental degradation and income inequality).  In this case, supporting the UAW will uphold the institutions to mitigate the failures and result in a non-tragedy solution.

JAJ is also writing about the economics of climate change and has helped us all out by providing a very brief required reading list on the subject. It looks a bit like what I imagine is the bibliography for his oral defense.

By the way, the reason potluck dinners work in Minnesota is because the Minnesota-nice is a subtle institutional social norm that drives out free-riding at a friendly dinner.

1 Comment
Justin Andrew Johnson link
4/4/2012 10:31:19 am

Hey Aine, glad you liked the blog post. I got into a long debate with another in our cohort about this, who raised a similar point as you that my whole argument falls apart if the union doesn't support policies that actually do address commons dilemmas. If they didn't, all that is left is wasted union fees and a body that supports anti-competitive policies that tend to oppose innovation and change (this was why I wrote I only mildly agree with their positions). My main response to this was that unions comprise, quite literally, the largest lobbying organization that actively advocates for HIGHER taxes (a stated position of the UAW). So even if one doesn't think there exists a commons dilemma that the UAW can help solve, in the very least they help funnel more resources (taxes) to the main institution that can solve commons dilemmas (the government). We should invite this other student to write down their views and turn this into a very lively debate.

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    Aine Seitz McCarthy

    International development, economics and some pretty ambitious ideas from a stubborn graduate student clinging to her sense of adventure.


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