Puzzles Love and Spaghetti, The Opportunity Cost of Virtue: Puzzle 1: When Love and Spaghetti Intertwine

Romeo loves Juliet and Juliet loves Romeo. Besides love, they consume only one good, spaghetti. Romeo likes spaghetti, but he also wants Juliet to be happy and he knows that what makes Juliet happy is her spaghetti and his own happiness. Similarly for Juliet. Located just above each person's na...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of economic perspectives 1989-04, Vol.3 (2), p.165
Main Author: Bergstrom, Ted
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Consumption
Donations
Happiness
Income distribution
Metal detectors
Opportunity costs
Puzzles
Utility functions
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Romeo loves Juliet and Juliet loves Romeo. Besides love, they consume only one good, spaghetti. Romeo likes spaghetti, but he also wants Juliet to be happy and he knows that what makes Juliet happy is her spaghetti and his own happiness. Similarly for Juliet. Located just above each person's navel is a small gauge (called a hedonimeter) with numbers and a pointer. The reading on either person's hedonimeter is higher the happier he or she is. Let SR and SJ denote Romeo's and Juliet's consumptions of spaghetti and let UR and UJ be the readings on their hedonimeters. Assume a warm climate so that both wear flimsy clothing and can easily read each...
ISSN:0895-3309
1944-7965