While we often think of Pirates as a thing of the past, piracy in international waters has been on the rise. Typically, pirates seize a commercial vessel and then demand a monetary ransom to let go of the ship. This is similar to some forms of terrorism where, for instance, terrorists kidnap citizens of a country with which the terrorists have a grievance—and then demand some action by the country in exchange for the hostages.
A: Oftentimes, countries have an explicit policy that “we do not negotiate with terrorists”—but still we often discover after the fact that a country (or a company that owns a shipping vessel) paid a ransom or took some other action demanded by terrorists in order to resolve the crisis.
(a) Suppose the ships of many countries are targeted by pirates. In every instance of piracy, a country faces the decision of whether or not to negotiate, and the more likely it is that pirates find victims amenable to negotiating a settlement; the more likely it is that they will commit more acts of piracy. Can you use the logic of the Prisoners’ Dilemma to explain why so many countries negotiate even though they say they don’t? (Assume Pirates cannot tell who owns a ship before they board it.)
(b) Suppose that only a single country is targeted by terrorists. Does the Prisoner’s Dilemma still apply?
(c) If you had to guess, do you think small countries or large countries are more likely to negotiate with pirates and terrorists?
(d) Children can be like terrorists—screaming insanely to get their way and implicitly suggesting that they will stop screaming if parents give in. In each instance, it is tempting to just give them what they want, but parents know that this will teach children that they can get their way by screaming, thus leading to an increased frequency of outbursts by the little terrors. If a child lives with a single parent, is there a Prisoners’ dilemma?
(e) What if the child lives in a two-parent household? What if the child is raised in a commune where everyone takes care of everyone’s children?
(f) All else being equal, where would you expect the most screaming per child: in a single-parent household, a two-parent household or in a commune?