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Behavioral Despair in the Talmud: New Solutions to Unsolved Millennium-Old Legal Problems

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  • Maymin Philip Z.

    (University of Bridgeport, Trefz School of Business, Bridgeport, CT 06604-7620, USA)

  • Maymin Zakhar G.
  • Maymin Zina N.

    (Quantitative Investment Services, Greenwich, CT 06807, USA)

Abstract

We solve two “unsolvable” (teyku) problems from the Talmud that had remained unsolved for about one and a half thousand years despite massive and nearly continuous commentary and analysis throughout the centuries. The Talmudic problems concern the implied decision-making of farmers who have left some scattered fruit behind, and the alleged impossibility of knowing whether they would return for given amounts of fruit over given amounts of land area if we aware of their behavior at exactly one point. We solve the problems by formalizing the Talmudic discussion and expressing five natural economic and mathematical assumptions that are also eminently reasonable in the original domain. If we also allow a sixth assumption regarding the farmer’s minimum wage, we can solve two other related unsolvable problems.

Suggested Citation

  • Maymin Philip Z. & Maymin Zakhar G. & Maymin Zina N., 2017. "Behavioral Despair in the Talmud: New Solutions to Unsolved Millennium-Old Legal Problems," Asian Journal of Law and Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 8(2), pages 1-9, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bpj:ajlecn:v:8:y:2017:i:2:p:9:n:4
    DOI: 10.1515/ajle-2016-0027
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Colin Camerer & Linda Babcock & George Loewenstein & Richard Thaler, 1997. "Labor Supply of New York City Cabdrivers: One Day at a Time," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 112(2), pages 407-441.
    2. Aumann, Robert J. & Maschler, Michael, 1985. "Game theoretic analysis of a bankruptcy problem from the Talmud," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 195-213, August.
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