Tag: Curb Your Enthusiasm

Curb Your Enthusiasm — Appetizer allotment

Larry David is adamant about the unwritten rule of appetizer allotment. In this scene, Richard Lewis is also eating “too much” of the hummus that they have ordered to share. The “unwritten rule” is that the dish should be split evenly among the diners, but there is a strong personal incentive to eat more than your share. In a sense, this is similar to the tragedy of the commons. While it’s in the best interest of the group to split the resource fairly, some people may try to take advantage of the situation.

Thanks to Alex Marsella for the clip recommendation!

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Curb Your Enthusiasm — Unwritten Rules

Larry David teaches Christian Slater the social etiquette surrounding overconsumption of  hors d’oeuvres a party. To start, Slater’s over consumption represents the individual incentives surrounding common resources. Ostrom’s Noble Prize in Economics explored the way social conventions, which David explains, can solve overconsumption issues even when laws aren’t in place.

Thanks to Greg Caskey for recommending it to the #TeachEcon stream on Twitter.

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Curb Your Enthusiasm — Anonymous Donations

Larry David makes a large donation to the National Resources Defense Council, a non-profit environmental advocacy group, but Larry is quickly upstaged by an anonymous donation that he finds out is made by Ted Danson. Larry felt like he was doing a great thing by donating to the fund, but felt it was a truly altruistic donation. He believes the anonymous donation by Ted Danson is a better deal because anonymous donors get more recognition for appearing to not care about the recognition, even though they go around telling people they were the anonymous donor.

Thanks to Nautilus and Moblab for the clip suggestions:

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