Tacit agreements need qualitatively distinct terms that may discriminate against one party
Evidence
If there are important conclusions to be drawn, they are probably these: (1) tacit agreements or agreements arrived at through partial or haphazard negotiation require terms that are qualitatively distinguishable from the alternatives and cannot simply be a matter of degree; (2) when agreement must be reached with incomplete communication, the participants must be ready to allow the situation itself to exercise substantial constraint over the outcome; specifically, a solution that discriminates against one party or the other or even involves “unnecessary” nuisance to both of them may be the only one on which their expectations can be coordinated. — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 190
Categorization
- XREF: The ‘unnecessary nuisance’ outcome — accepting inefficient discrimination as the only coordinable term — maps onto how the Don Corleone model makes parties accept harsh but focal terms the state would reject. — connects to: Tacit bargaining forces one party to accept an unfair focal point — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 150; Total prohibition beats partial limits as a tacit agreement focus — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 191; Tacit limits require qualitative boundaries amenable to complete abstention — Thomas C. Schelling, The Strategy of Conflict, 194
- DEFINE: Clarifies the defining constraint of tacit agreement: terms must be qualitatively distinguishable (discrete) rather than continuous.
Related
- Tacit and explicit bargaining form one continuum dependent on coordinated expectations (similarity 0.83)
- Tacit-bargaining theory guides where to seek terms, not their probability (similarity 0.80)
- Tacit limits require qualitative boundaries amenable to complete abstention (similarity 0.80)
- Total prohibition beats partial limits as a tacit agreement focus (similarity 0.79)
- Tacit bargaining requires coordinating on equivalent solutions, not just equal-valued ones (similarity 0.79)
- Limits emerge through tacit jockeying and need unique focal qualities. (similarity 0.78)