Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Gaming Capitalism

While the dynamics as described by game theory indeed do not result in the general dissemination of optimal outcomes, in the real world the suboptimal ones we manage to generate are usually quite good enough. Surely they are substantially better than would obtain in the absence of any mechanisms at all for the communication of as much information as is obtainable and discernible through the workings of the markets.

But not always. Sometimes, as we attempt to serve our various individual interests by gaming our interactions with others through the capitalist economic system, things can spin out of control. So, to what extent do we all share in responsibility for the the current crisis? Is it simply the inevitably periodic consequence of our economic coexistence?

Read the rest of Jim Stroup at Managing Leadership on gaming theory and capitalism.

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