Money & Economics Facts
Money, markets and the science of choices.
Tulip Mania Bulb Prices and Historical Impact
At the peak of tulip mania in February 1637, certain tulip bulbs sold for more than 10 times the annual income of a skilled artisan. It is generally considered the first recorded speculative bubble, though many modern scholars think it was less destructive than popular accounts claim.
Arrow's Impossibility Theorem and Ranked-Choice Voting
Arrow's impossibility theorem, proved by Kenneth Arrow in 1950, shows that no ranked-choice group decision procedure can satisfy all of a set of reasonable fairness conditions; it does not apply to rated voting systems.
Fairness in the Ultimatum Game
In the Ultimatum Game, people tend to offer fair 50:50 splits, and offers of less than 30% are often rejected — even though rejecting means walking away with nothing.
John Nash Proved Finite Game Equilibria in 1950
In 1950 John Nash proved that every finite game has at least one Nash equilibrium (possibly in mixed strategies), a state in which no player can do better by unilaterally changing their strategy.
The Prisoner's Dilemma Explained
The Prisoner's Dilemma demonstrates that two rational individuals acting in their own self-interest may not produce the optimal outcome — both players choosing to 'defect' yields worse results than mutual cooperation.