The "remarkable result" of The Prisoners' Dilemma, to quote the
economist Roger
McCain ["Imperfect competition and game theory."
Essential Principles of Economics: a Hypermedia Text, Second
revised edition, Chapter 13, 1998] is that "individually rational
action results in both persons being made worse off in terms of their
own self-interested purposes." The game is a vivid illustration of the
nearly overwhelming temptation to pursue private ends in transactions
where community interests are at stake. The structure of the game is
such that -- unless one changes "rules" to tilt the play in favor of
cooperation -- the pressure to defect is irresistible.
-- Kenneth Frazier "The Librarians' Dilemma
Contemplating the Costs of the 'Big Deal'"
D-Lib Magazine March 2001 Volume 7 Number 3