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Showing posts from May, 2022

Remote Work & Prisoners Dielamma

  Consider the following game. James and John are being interviewed by a fast-growing company. Both of them would like to have the freedom to work remotely whenever they choose. Each of them negotiates his terms of employment without communicating with the other. The company's official policy is that all employees must be tied to their office desks from 9-to-5 every day. If both candidates insist on working remotely, both of them would be allowed to. If one of them agrees to be tied to a desk, the other one would also be forced to work in this way. Simultaneously, the company offers each of the candidates a bargain: Get hired immediately if you betray the other and agree to be tied to a desk. The two candidates have the power to change the company's policy, but they do not know it. They also assume that all other major companies would follow the same procedure. The possible outcomes are: If James and John betray each other, they both end up tied to their desk. If J...