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Ken Binmore k.binmore@ucl.ac.uk Origins of Fair Play
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John Mackie’s Inventing Right and Wrong Metaphysical moral philosophy is unsound. Look instead at: Anthropology Game theory
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Social Contracts No bosses Fair division The social contracts of pure hunter-gatherer societies have two universal properties:
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Pure hunter-gatherers
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Toy games dove hawk Prisoners’ Dilemma dove hawk Stag Hunt Adam’s strategies
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Toy games Prisoners’ Dilemma Stag Hunt dovehawkdovehawk Eve’s strategies
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Toy games dove hawk Prisoners’ Dilemma dove hawk Stag Hunt dovehawkdovehawk Adam’s payoffs 20 31 4 0 3 2
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Toy games dove hawk Prisoners’ Dilemma dove hawk Stag Hunt dovehawkdovehawk Eve’s payoffs 23 01 43 02
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Toy games dove hawk Prisoners’ Dilemma dove hawk Stag Hunt dovehawkdovehawk 23 01 43 02 20 31 40 3 2
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Nash Equilibria dove hawk Prisoners’ Dilemma dove hawk Stag Hunt dovehawkdovehawk 3 3 1 1 4 4 2 2 2 2 0 0 3 0 0 3
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Coordination Games left right Driving Game box ball Battle of the Sexes leftrightboxball 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
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Reciprocal Altruism indefinitely repeated Prisoners’ Dilemma 23 0 1 20 31 23 0 1 20 31 23 01 20 31 23 01 20 31 23 01 20 31
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Reciprocal Altruism dh d Grim strategy h 23 0 1 20 31 23 0 1 20 31 23 01 20 31 23 01 20 31 23 01 20 31
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Reputation and Trust Sure I trust him. You know the ones to trust in this business. The ones who betray you, bye-bye.
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Vampire bats share blood on a reciprocal basis to insure each other against hunger.
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Folk Theorem efficient equilibria current status quo Eve’s payoff Adam’s payoff 0
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Equilibrium selection Fairness is evolution’s solution to the equilibrium selection problem.
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Equilibrium selection Fairness is evolution’s solution to the equilibrium selection problem. Fairness therefore evolved as a means of balancing power---not as a substitute for power.
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Deep structure of fairness norms As with language, fairness has a deep structure that is universal in the human species. This deep structure is embodied in Rawls’ original position
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John Rawls’ original position Veil of ignorance Comparison of welfare Enforcement
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I might be Adam and Oskar might be Eve. Or Oskar might be Adam and I might be Eve Original Position Adam Eve Oskar John
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implicit insurance contracts deep structure of fairness? implicit insurance contracts
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original position deep structure of fairness? original position
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implicit insurance contracts original position utilitarianismegalitarianism external enforcement self-policing Who is right? Harsanyi Rawls
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Modern Equity Theory What is fair … is what is proportional. Aristotle Eve Adam 0 status quo slope is ratio of the players’ context-dependent social indices
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implicit insurance contracts original position utilitarianismegalitarianism external enforcement self-policing standard of interpersonal comparison cultural evolution
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... 0 Adam’s payoff Eve’s payoff Utilitarianism and Egalitarianism The slopes are determined by the standard of interpersonal comparison. utilitarian outcome egalitarian outcome state of nature
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... 0 Adam’s payoff Eve’s payoff Utilitarianism and Egalitarianism The slopes are determined by the standard of interpersonal comparison. utilitarian outcome egalitarian outcome
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.. 0 Adam’s payoff Eve’s payoff Utilitarianism and Egalitarianism The slopes are determined by the standard of interpersonal comparison. utilitarian outcome egalitarian outcome
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.. 0 Utilitarianism and Egalitarianism The slopes are determined by the standard of interpersonal comparison. Nash bargaining solution
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.. 0 Cultural Evolution: Egalitarian Case medium-run past Nash bargaining solution. short-run present egalitarian solution
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Analogy with language Chomsky discovered that all languages have a deep structure which is universal in the human species, but the particular language spoken in a society is determined by its cultural history. Fairness norms similarly have a common deep structure, but the standard of interpersonal comparison that is necessary as an input to the original position is culturally determined.
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Moral relativism Need Ability Effort Status Social indices always respond to these parameters in the same way, but the degree of response varies with a society’s cultural history.
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Reform?
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