Prisoners Dilemma Game

• givens

  • 2 prisoners in separate cells - no communication is possible
  • if both prisoners do not confess → both 2 years
  • if both prisoners confess → both 5 years
  • if one prisoner confesses → confessing 0 years, other 10 years

• the dilemma

  • in a perfect world (social optimum) it would be best for both prisoners to not confess
    • social optimum … sum of all payoffs
    • result both 2 years
  • in reality it is for both prisoners the dominant strategy to confess
    • -5 > -10 and 0 > -2
    • result both 5 years

• result

  • no Nash Equilibrium since the optimum (both not confessing) cannot be reached
  • both players have dominant strategy of confessing → both will confess

• resource: Murder by Numbers video on YouTube

  • https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=murder+by+numbers