Zero sum assumption

Negotiating situations in which the benefit of one party always leads to damage to the other party is referred to as zero-sum assumption (often also fixed pie assumption ) . This assumption is widespread among inexperienced negotiators and often leads to poor results, as the possibility of a win-win situation is not seen.

It could be shown that this often incorrect basic assumption is also reflected in the economic understanding of many laypeople. For example, when evaluating a political decision, one assumes a fixed number of jobs to be "distributed" and overlooks the possibility that this decision could also create new jobs.

See also

• Zero-sum game on the related concept from the point of view of game theory
• Cooperative game

literature

• Article on the subject of fire one

credentials

1. ↑ Thompson, Leigh, and Dennis Hrebec. "Lose – lose agreements in interdependent decision making." Psychological bulletin 120.3 (1996): 396.
2. ↑ Enste, Dominik H., Alexandra Haferkamp and Detlef Fetchenhauer . "Differences in thinking between economists and laypeople - explanatory approaches to improve economic policy advice." Economic Policy Perspectives 10.1 (2009): 60-78.