Udhay Shankar N wrote: [ on 04:23 PM 5/15/2007 ]
It's sometimes awkward when the bill arrives at
a large gathering of people at a restaurant -
figuring out who pays what, &c. Here's an
interesting study of precisely this problem. I'd
be fascinated to hear comments from Madhu (and others!) on this.
Udhay
http://www.chicagocdr.org/cdrpubs/pdf_index/cdr_523.pdf
More on this, including a laundry list of further reading at the end:
http://mindyourdecisions.com/blog/2008/01/29/game-theory-tuesdays-dividing-a-restaurant-bill/
Were going to split the bill, said the
organizer at my friends ninth grade birthday
party. I didnt think much of it until I ended up
paying $40 for a $10 entrée. I felt cheated
because I didnt order a drink like most others.
I was afraid to ruin the party mood, so I
concealed my own anger, and that ended up ruining the night for me.
If youre like people I know, Im sure youve had
similar horror stories. The overall feeling is
that everyone seems to pay too much and no one is happy.
Should you just pay up? Do we need to teach
better etiquette? Is better technology required?
No, no, and no.
Its hard to change how people respond to
incentives. But the group dining situation is
screaming for better outcomes. As Ive suggested
before, if you dont like the outcomes, dont
hate people, change the game. And the best tool
is the aptly named field of mechanism design
<snip>
--
((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))
