Phone Call for Senate GOP: Bad Deal May Be Better Than No Deal. Or, Not.

Agreement Attraction and Impasse Aversion: Reasons for Selecting a Poor Deal Over No Deal at All

Ece Tuncel et al.
Psychological Science, forthcoming

Abstract: In the present studies, we examined the positive value of agreement and the negative value of impasse. Participants chose to give up real value and sacrifice economic efficiency in order to attain an agreement outcome and avoid an impasse outcome. A personally disadvantageous option was selected significantly more often when it was labeled "Agreement" rather than "Option A," and a personally advantageous option was avoided significantly more often when it was labeled "Impasse" rather than "Option B." In a face-to-face negotiation, a substantial proportion of individuals reached an agreement that was inferior to their best alternative to agreement. We showed that the appeal of agreement and the aversion to impasse both contribute to this effect, yet the aversion to impasse is the stronger of the two motivations. These findings have important implications for negotiators.

One more such victory and we are lost

Congratulations people, we are back to square one.

Yes, there are finally now as many people working today as there were before the great recession began.

It only took 6+ years, way longer than any previous post-war recession, but at least there's one less bad thing to say about the economy now.

Here's the visual from the immortal Bill McBride:

Anyways.....

Happy New Years!

If you play poker today I hope you get two pairs.