My apartment is in rough shape. Dishes fill up the sink, ginger ale cans take refuge on tables, and junk litters every corner of the living room. My three roommates and I epitomize the free rider problem -- we have very little incentive to clean up after ourselves when we can just bank on our brethren to do so for us.
Starting this week, however, we free ride no longer. Over the break, trying to solve this problem and create a genius blog entry for my public choice economics class, I created the Lambeth 4593 Constitution. This clearly sets up the rules of the game for our apartment. While passage requires unanimity, our group of four members with similar preferences should have no time signing this into law. With three main chores to do (dishes, cleaning, and taking out trash), each roommate has a smaller yet clearly delineated responsibility with the added bonus of a break every four weeks. If they're slammed with exams or just don't want to do their role in a given week, they are free to trade or pay someone to take their responsibility, creating a market for each chore. Essentially, they can buy the right to free ride. And to disincentivize violating the constitution, a wannabe free rider faces a punishment decided by the three other members.
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