#TNAC (The Norms And Conventions) --- SynTalk

Do you tip in restaurants you are unlikely to revisit? Why (not)? Have you violated a norm or a 'rule' lately? Do norms (for collective action) and conventions (for coordination) solve different kinds of social problems? Are norms constraints? Are conventions self enforcing? Is the capacity to develop and enforce norms central to being human? Would we have societies without norms? Is it important for societies to 'informally' punish opportunistic behaviour in a decentralized way? What does 'breaking the rule' mean in (say) classical music? Is there, however, also a convention of breaking the norm? Do some conventions become norms in the long run; how? Can tragedy of the commons be averted via norms? Are norms fragile structures and nearly impossible to recover? How is culture sustained and reproduced? What function do the extra musical conventions serve? Why are we willing to punish? Are norms often enmeshed with the idea of self image? How are common property and open access different? Can codifying norms into Laws sometimes obliterate them? Is 'wrong' often worse than 'costly'? When do norms don't help? What might be the nature of new norms? Would the convention of deviating continue in the future? SynTalk thinks about these & more questions using concepts from classical music (Dr. Aneesh Pradhan, Mumbai), & economics (Prof. Rajiv Sethi, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York). Listen in....