Thursday, December 10, 2009

Dublin pubs and the El Farol Bar problem

I was in town last night and i noticed how empty the superpubs were. these are the giant warehouse like pubs that need to be packed all the time to pay for the giant rents they have.

They also need to be full to make it look like they are not just giant warehouses. This is a version of the El Farol Bar problem. The game theory is this

* If less than X% of the population go to the bar, It will be too empty and they'll all have a worse time than if they stayed at home.
* If more than X% of the population go to the bar, they'll all have a better time than if they stayed at home.

People realise the pubs will be empty so no one goes. It is a positive feedback problem. Which means these big pubs are in big trouble.