Opportunism and Economic Inefficiency In Econ 490

opportunism

1. the policy or practice, as in politics, business, or one's personal affairs, of adapting actions, decisions, etc., to expediency or effectiveness regardless of the sacrifice of ethical principles.

I have passed up on many opportunistic chances in my life, especially in the last week. In this blog, I will discuss my own experiences because it would be inefficient for me to speculate another person's thought process when I already have full access to my own experiences and my thoughts.

I personally believe that there is never a fully opportunistic chance in real life. The sacrifice of ethical principles always comes with a price. On a personal level, one would always feel guilt after committing an unethical act. The act of feeling guilt or dealing with it would incur a cost. If one did not feel any guilt after an act, then it must not have went against one's morals, for how could one not have a "feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong" if one knows that one has committed a wrongful act? I would assume that a rational agent would have the capacity to remember what one has done. To not feel guilt would mean that one did not perceive that act as wrong, therefore no ethics were broken from the person's perspective.

Taken from dictionary.com:
Ethics: "system of moral principles".
Moral: "... concerned with the principles or rules of right conduct or the distinction between right and wrong."
Guilt: "a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., whether real or imagined"

One thing that is difficult to measure would be the quantity of guilt one would feel, and whether that would outweigh the utility gained from committing the opportunistic act. Regardless, ethical principles isn't the only thing being sacrificed.

Recently I ordered food from a restaurant. When I tried paying with cash, the cashier told me to wait and eat first because there wasn't enough change in the register. After I was done eating, I forgot to pay the bill and left. The cashier had clearly forgotten as well because we exchanged a "good-bye" as I left. However, I went back to pay when I remembered that I had forgotten to do so.

The meal was 15 dollars. After I remembered, I had a choice to go back and pay or not. I had no risk of being confronted about it because I had already tried paying from the start, and it was clear that the cashier had forgotten. If I went back and paid, I would lose 15 dollars, and 20 minutes of time. If I didn't pay, the cashier might remember later, but recall that I had already tried paying, and conclude that I had made an honest mistake.

I went back and paid the cashier at the expense of my time. Here is why:
1. From my experiences of working in business, I believe that business should be conducted fairly. If my decision making strategies were reliant on the expectation that I could treat someone unfairly, then I would not expect people to want to continue conducting business with me.
2. I received a service from someone. I would like to give them something of equal value in exchange. This is what I want from others, therefore I would like to treat others this way.

At the end of the day, these are an arbitrary set of beliefs that I might not share with others. However, I calculated that if I were to deviate from my principles, I would have more to lose from potentially opening up thought process to inconsistencies. Inconsistent thoughts will lead to bad decision making, which will decrease my utility output in life.

I believe that there is a cost to breaking principles or ethics that is not easily noticeable. It is difficult to measure the cost of having an emotion or a thought, especially if they are not extreme enough to cause quantitative loss. But I believe that it is there, and that I try to avoid opportunistic decisions for my own benefit. I don't believe that I am inherently good or ethical. I am driven by a desire to maximize utility. If something doesn't seems be a optimal decision in the short-run, then I must be thinking long-run.