Figuring out housing for next year was one dilemma, but now that we have the lease signed, a new problem has arisen: picking rooms. In class, we discussed two types of costs resulting from collective action: decision making and external costs. In my current scenario, both of these costs are present.
The decision making costs of coming together and choosing a room
The external costs imposed by the room choices themselves
In this example, external costs could be the unhappiness of a roommate who gets their last pick room based on the voting method. For example, if we did room selection dictator style, external costs would be extremely high. Now, I know this seems like it might be an issue with relatively low external costs, but 6 girls fighting for the best natural lighting in the house they’re going to spend all of 8 months in? Seems pretty high to me. Moving on, however, if we wanted to vote unanimously, decision making costs would also be high because it would be difficult to agree collectively if two people want the same room.
So, where does me being the best roommate ever come in? Well, I am particularly indifferent in my room choice for next year. Removing me as a collective decision maker reduces both the number of voters and the number of voters required to agree. My external costs are extremely low because, for me, any room in this house is an upgrade compared to my current room (shown below). So, since my external costs are low - I am making all of my roommates' lives easier in this collective action dilemma by potentially reducing external costs (taking the least preferable room) and decision making costs (one fewer person needed to reach unanimity).
My room. That I share.
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