Wealth redistribution in this game wouldn’t have to be communist. Depending on how you set up the analogy, it could also be capitalist.
Call JW the capitalist and AA the worker. JW is the one producing wealth, but he needs AA’s help to do it. Call the under-the-table wealth redistribution deals AA’s “salary”.
The worker can always cooperate, in which case he makes some money but the capitalist makes more.
Or he can threaten to defect unless the capitalist raises his salary—he’s quitting his job or going on strike for higher pay.
(To perfect the analogy with capitalism, make two changes. First, the capitalist makes zero without the worker’s cooperation. Second, the worker makes zero in all categories, and can only make money by entering into deals with the capitalist. But now it’s not a Prisoner’s Dilemma at all—it’s the Ultimatum Game.)
IANAGT, but I bet the general rule for this class of game is that the worker’s salary should depend a little on how much the capitalist can make without workers, how much the worker can make without capitalists, and what the marginal utility structure looks like—but mostly on their respective stubbornness and how much extra payoff having the worker’s cooperation gives the capitalist.
In the posted example, AA’s “labor” brings JW from a total of 50 to a total of 100. Perhaps if we ignore marginal utilities and they’re both equally stubborn, and they both know they’re both equally stubborn and so on, JW will be best off paying AA 25 for his cooperation, leading to the equal 75 − 75 distribution of wealth?
[nazgul, a warning. I think I might disagree with you about some politics. Political discussions in blogs are themselves prisoner’s dilemmas. When we all cooperate and don’t post about politics, we are all happy. When one person defects and talks about politics, he becomes happier because his views get aired, but those of us who disagree with him get angry. The next time you post a political comment, I may have to defect as well and start arguing with you, and then we’re going to get stuck in the (D,D) doldrums.]
Wealth redistribution in this game wouldn’t have to be communist. Depending on how you set up the analogy, it could also be capitalist.
Call JW the capitalist and AA the worker. JW is the one producing wealth, but he needs AA’s help to do it. Call the under-the-table wealth redistribution deals AA’s “salary”.
The worker can always cooperate, in which case he makes some money but the capitalist makes more.
Or he can threaten to defect unless the capitalist raises his salary—he’s quitting his job or going on strike for higher pay.
(To perfect the analogy with capitalism, make two changes. First, the capitalist makes zero without the worker’s cooperation. Second, the worker makes zero in all categories, and can only make money by entering into deals with the capitalist. But now it’s not a Prisoner’s Dilemma at all—it’s the Ultimatum Game.)
IANAGT, but I bet the general rule for this class of game is that the worker’s salary should depend a little on how much the capitalist can make without workers, how much the worker can make without capitalists, and what the marginal utility structure looks like—but mostly on their respective stubbornness and how much extra payoff having the worker’s cooperation gives the capitalist.
In the posted example, AA’s “labor” brings JW from a total of 50 to a total of 100. Perhaps if we ignore marginal utilities and they’re both equally stubborn, and they both know they’re both equally stubborn and so on, JW will be best off paying AA 25 for his cooperation, leading to the equal 75 − 75 distribution of wealth?
[nazgul, a warning. I think I might disagree with you about some politics. Political discussions in blogs are themselves prisoner’s dilemmas. When we all cooperate and don’t post about politics, we are all happy. When one person defects and talks about politics, he becomes happier because his views get aired, but those of us who disagree with him get angry. The next time you post a political comment, I may have to defect as well and start arguing with you, and then we’re going to get stuck in the (D,D) doldrums.]