Economic Analysis of the Cost of Leaving the Toilet Seat Down

[Kristijntje]

The issue of whether the toilet seat should be left up or down after use seemingly generates a lot of passion among the parties concerned, however, scientific inquiries into the matter are almost non-existent. Notable exceptions are Choi (2002) and Harter (2005)....If a female finds the toilet seat in a wrong position then she will most probably yell at the male involved. This yelling inflicts a cost on the male. Based on this omission, women may argue that the analysis in these papers is suspect.

In this paper, we internalize the cost of yelling and model the conflict as a non-cooperative game between two species, males and females.We find that the social norm of leaving the toilet seat down is inefficient. However, to our dismay, we also find that the social norm of always leaving the toilet seat down after use is not only a Nash equilibrium in pure strategies but is also trembling-hand perfect. So, we can complain all we like, but this norm is not likely to go away.

full research paper: http://www.scq.ubc.ca/the-social-norm-of...-analysis/

[BellisimaJ.]

In this paper, we internalize the cost of yelling and model the conflict as a non-cooperative game between two species, males and females.

Um, males and females belong to the same species, DUH. :

.We find that the social norm of leaving the toilet seat down is inefficient.

Just like one of the dumber members of the male gender to attempt to find a valid reason for an inconsiderate habit. I bet HE has never fallen in to a toilet because someone left the seat up.

[mandy]