Ben and Leslie are trying to outsmart the new Newport campaign manager, but they aren’t sure if she’s giving them good advice or purposely bad advice. Having complete information means that everyone knows that everyone knows, but Ben and Leslie are feeling a bit lost.
See more: behavioral, full information, game theory, optimal behavior, second mover advantage
Andy hits his head against the wall, but can’t afford to go see a doctor. He hasn’t had insurance for two years because he thinks he only needs it for when something bad happens. Moral hazards often arise when one party takes on more risk because they are insured.
See more: adverse selection, asymmetric information, health economics,insurance, moral hazard, public health
While on suspension, Leslie buys her officemates Christmas gifts based on their personalities. Ron mentions how he only gives people $20, but realizes how great Leslie’s gifts are and how the office needs to remedy the gift giving imbalance. While Ron takes the most efficient outcome for gift giving, he’s realizing that there may need to be a bit more thought put into the process.
See more: behavioral, equity, gift giving, preferences, utility
Andy has decided to take a class at the local community college and April is helping him look through the catalog. Ron encourages him to take a course in a new subject and broaden his horizons, but April thinks he should take an easy class to get an A.
See more: education, effort minimization, human capital, incentives, labor, signalling, skill building
Andy is ready to register for his first college course, but is shocked by the cost of one class. He then decides to pick up a second job before Ron offers to pay for his class.
See more: cost of college, education, human capital
Ann runs into Donna at a single’s event but is quickly sent away because she represents competition in “the jungle.” Dating markets work best whenever they are “thick,” but if there aren’t many available mates then it can be hard to match up.
See more: behavioral, common resources, competition, coordiantion problem, dating markets, game theory, zero-sum game
Ben and Chris come into town from Indianapolis to help cut the town’s budget because of their pending financial situation. Ben suggests firing Leslie to relieve some of the spending associated with the inflated budget, but Ron describes how valuable Leslie is to the department and how she’s worth her salary. He basically argues that her marginal productivity vastly exceeds her salary despite making the second largest salary in the department.
See more: derived demand, government shutdown, government spending, marginal product, marginal revenue product, total wage bill, types of income, value
Leslie needs programming for a local telethon and decides to flip a quarter on air. Leslie takes the distribution of the flips as being exciting since it’s unclear “who will win.” Luckily for statisticians, the results stay close to 50-50 throughout the broadcast.
See more: econometrics, probabilities, statistics
Tom needs to move, but doesn’t have a truck. He enlists the help of Mark because he has a pickup truck and Andy/April because he needs labor. All agree to help even though Tom offers no compensation. Social norms often mean that friends help each other despite not being compensated.
See more: behavioral, fairness, gains from trade, irrationality, opportunity costs, social norms
In an effort to get Sweet-ums out of Pawnee Parks, Leslie and Ann hold a town hall meeting. Both Leslie and Ron try to frame their questions to get citizens to vote their way.
See more: behavioral, framing, private incentives, rent seeking, voting
Economics of Parks & Recreation 