Tabling and the Prisoner's Dilemma

As the UVA a cappella concert season comes to an end, I think back to two weeks ago when my group, the Academical Village People (AVP), was having its “concert week,” which the week leading up to our concert that we have every semester. During this week, we do things like hold extra rehearsals, post flyers, and most importantly, table on the Lawn every day of the week selling tickets. What should be my favorite activity of concert week (selling tickets) is actually my least favorite, and it’s because the Prisoner’s dilemma always rears its ugly head.

In this case, there are two choices for each group member: put group interests first and table as much as he can (cooperating), or only table when he feels like it (defecting). The ideal strategy is that every member of the group tables as much as his schedule permits and is willing to sacrifice other commitments for the sake of the group. Every member is better off under this strategy because it reduces the workload and keeps opportunity costs of tabling low for each individual member. Also, the more people we have at the table at a given time, the more comfortable and enthusiastic we are about advertising our concert, which leads to greater publicity and better sales.

Unfortunately, it never works out this way. The concert week schedule is demanding, and the rational group member doesn’t want to fall behind on his schoolwork and other commitments. He also knows that there are members who get a lot of utility from tabling and selling tickets, and thus has an incentive to free-ride. Therefore, the dominant strategy is to defect—or only table when he feels like it—because he can maintain his normal routine and still enjoy the benefits of putting on a concert. However, this forces the members who do table to sacrifice more of their time and even skip class and forgo sleep to pick up other members’ slack. These members then become frustrated, causing group morale to suffer. 

With that being said, I’m not out to get my singing brethren—ticket sales were great and we put on a fantastic concert. But if any future AVP member reads this, I urge them to avoid the Pareto-inefficient outcome of choosing not to table and COME TABLE!!!! Please. It makes it easier on all of us.