Friday, September 20, 2013

Ripped off at the Apple Store



BATNA disparity. What's the correct solution?

[Edit] That's too pithy. Look, what we have here is not merely a disparity of income or of wealth, but of what I'll call prudence for lack of a better term. Even if you were to offer me my correct marginal product for the amount of time I'd spend in line, I'd still insist on some insurance, like putting the pizza in escrow. But should we expect homeless folks to have this sort of foresight? I'd say that on average, no. 

The relevant BATNA disparity isn't that the man in the video is poor but that he's easily duped. He was suckered by a punk in a suit driving a flashy car. He was defrauded. Yeah, this sort of breach of contract is already illegal, but there are ways around it, and if one party to the contract doesn't know how to hedge default risk, is there a role for third parties? If so, what is that role?

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Do you have suggestions on where we could find more examples of this phenomenon?