"The heat is bad, yes, but it's also the humidity," complains Matt. "I'll always remember this July 12 breakfast with Chuck Schumer from last summer for exactly how uncomfortable everyone (the Senator included) looked in our jackets and ties and remembering who, exactly, we were all trying to impress by dressing like that?"
This is what the economist Robert Frank calls a "smart for one, dumb for all" problem. Given that Matt is having breakfast with a major politician, and everyone in the room will be wearing jackets and ties, it's very smart for him to adopt a blazer and some neckwear. Same goes for every other individual in the room. But if Schumer (or someone of significant enough standing) had sent out an e-mail suggesting that Weather.com said July 12th will be 472 degrees, and everyone should wear shorts and a T-shirt, everyone would have been better off. You can't unilaterally opt-out of the dress code, but communal welfare would be improved if a collective decision to dress down was made. Life, in fact, has a lot of problems where the group incentives point in the opposite direction as the individual incentives. This may or may not have broad policy implications. And I may or may not be writing about them for this weekend's LA Times.
