Even if I distrust that you have a broken radio, as long as I prefer going to meet you (accepting the additional cost therein entailed) to never meeting you or meeting after an indefinitely long time, I will still go to wherever you say you are. If both people’s radios are unbroken after the crash, whoever transmits the “receiver broken” signal probably gets the easier time of it.
This game is essentially the (repeated?) game of chicken, as long as “claim broken receiver and other person capitulates” > “both players admit unbroken” > “capitulate to other person’s claim” > “neither player capitulates while both claim broken receivers”.
Conveniently, this appears to be the broader point Schelling was trying to make. Flamboyant disabling of one’s options often puts one in a better negotiating position. Hence, the American garrison in West Berlin.
Even if I distrust that you have a broken radio, as long as I prefer going to meet you (accepting the additional cost therein entailed) to never meeting you or meeting after an indefinitely long time, I will still go to wherever you say you are. If both people’s radios are unbroken after the crash, whoever transmits the “receiver broken” signal probably gets the easier time of it.
This game is essentially the (repeated?) game of chicken, as long as “claim broken receiver and other person capitulates” > “both players admit unbroken” > “capitulate to other person’s claim” > “neither player capitulates while both claim broken receivers”.
Conveniently, this appears to be the broader point Schelling was trying to make. Flamboyant disabling of one’s options often puts one in a better negotiating position. Hence, the American garrison in West Berlin.