Salemicus comments on Open thread, Aug. 10 - Aug. 16, 2015 - Less Wrong

5 Post author: MrMind 10 August 2015 07:29AM

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Comment author: Salemicus 12 August 2015 10:45:25AM 0 points [-]

Pre-commitment needs to be credible, verifiable and enforceable. If you're playing chicken, pre-commitment means throwing the steering-wheel out of the window, not just saying "I will never ever swerve, pinky-swear."

What is the relevant pre-commitment mechanism here, and how does it operate?

If anything, I would say large dealers are more vulnerable.

Comment author: MrMind 12 August 2015 01:21:15PM 3 points [-]

What is the relevant pre-commitment mechanism here, and how does it operate?

Affiliation to a powerful criminal organization, that can kill you if you rattle or can bail you out if you cooperate.

Basically, the suckers at the bottom get caught while those who deals for the Mob face less competition.
In the most powerful flavor of Italian Mafia affiliates call themselves "man of honor".