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How do you trade off your own interests against the interests of others? And what role do transaction costs play? A discussion of our "interest" in the welfare of others,  and the complexity that adds to economic indifference curves.

Things take an interesting turn, going toward how transaction costs can shape our institutions and preferences, ranging from  a marine fishery to a bowl of M&M's.

And TWEJ. Always, TWEJ.

Some Resources:

Gary Lynne, on Dual Interest Theory:   https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/02601079231172366?journalCode=jiea

Neo(Classical) and Rama-Kandra, on caring about others: 
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0242653/characters/nm0924502

On Coase, Olson, and the Problem of Encompassing Institutions:

• Justice Department Merger Guidelines:  https://www.justice.gov/archives/atr/merger-guidelines-and-integration-efficiencies-antitrust-review-horizontal-mergers: https://www.justice.gov/archives/atr/merger-guidelines-and-integration-efficiencies-antitrust-review-horizontal-mergers
• Ronald Coase, 1937, "The Theory of the Firm." https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1468-0335.1937.tb00002.x
• Richard Jankowski on Encompassing Organizations:  (1989). Preference Aggregation in Firms and Corporatist Organizations: The Enterprise Group as a Cellular Encompassing Organization. American Journal of Political Science, 33(4), 973–996. https://www.jstor.org/stable/2111117
• Robert Keohane, "International Institutions": https://www.jstor.org/stable/2600589
• Mancur Olson, the Rise and Decline of Nations. https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1nprdd
• The "Coase Theorem" and the "$100 Bill on the Sidewalk" Joke: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3405632

On Brown M&Ms:

• The DLR interview (excerpts): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IxqdAgNJck
• NPR on Brown M&Ms:  https://www.npr.org/sections/therecord/2012/02/14/146880432/the-truth-about-van-halen-and-those-brown-m-ms
• Background, including a copy of the relevant part of the contract:  https://www.insider.com/van-halen-brown-m-ms-contract-2016-9

If you have questions or comments, or want to suggest a future topic, email the show at [email protected] !

You can follow Mike Munger on Twitter at @mungowitz