Question: This question investigates bargaining on a sinking ship. If a ship leaves port on a sunny day, it will not get caught in a storm

This question investigates bargaining on a sinking ship. If a ship leaves port on a sunny day, it will not get caught in a storm and become disabled. If it leaves port on a stormy day, the probability that it will get caught in a storm and become disabled is 0.002 (1 in 500). The probability that a tugboat is sufficiently close by that it can tow a distressed boat to port is 1 - 1/(T + 1), where T is the number of tugboats per ship. If there is not a tugboat sufficiently close by to tow a distressed ship, the ship sinks at a cost of $5,000,000. A ship generates net revenue of $8500 per day when it leaves port (even if it gets distressed). Tugboats go out only on stormy days and do nothing other than roam the seas looking for distressed ships.. The cost per tugboat per stormy day is $2100.

The table below reports the net social benefit of a ship leaving port on a stormy day as a function of the number of tugboats per ship.

no. of tugs/ship

0

1

2

3

net revenue/ship





expected cost of ship sinking





cost of tugboats/ship





net social benefit

-1500

1400

966

-300

a) (4) Indicate how one of the numbers for net social benefit in the above table is calculated. The social optimum is therefore, on stormy days, to have ships leave port and for there to be one tugboat. The table below gives the number of tugboats and whether the ship will leave port, as a function of how much the ship captain pays the tugboat captain to be towed to shore. (M = millions of dollars).

payment

4.5M

4M

3.5M

3M

2.5M

2M

1.5M

1M

0.5M

exp cost of ship sink










exp payment










no. of tugs

3

2

2

1

1

0

0

0

0

leave port

no

no

yes

yes

yes

no

no

no

no

b) (4) Indicate how the indicated outcome with the payment of 4.5M by the ship's captain to the tugboat owner for towing the ship to shore is calculated.

Step by Step Solution

3.40 Rating (150 Votes )

There are 3 Steps involved in it

1 Expert Approved Answer
Step: 1 Unlock

To solve these parts of the question we need to break down the given information step by step Part a Indicate how one of the numbers for net social be... View full answer

blur-text-image
Question Has Been Solved by an Expert!

Get step-by-step solutions from verified subject matter experts

Step: 2 Unlock
Step: 3 Unlock

Students Have Also Explored These Related Mathematics Questions!