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Couple of months ago I found a small case containing two PDAs (one of them a wireless internet device), some $30, personal material, etc. Its owner had dropped the case in the middle of a street some couple of miles away from my house. The first thing I did was to find the owner's email address from the PDA, which I used to send an email to. I waited for a week for a response, but I got none. So, I did an online search on the owner's full name, found a phone number (and an address), which I used to contact the owner. I let the owner know that I would soon return the case with all its original contents, and I proceeded anonymously to do so that night.Today I remembered that episode and began to wonder: Would I have done the same thing if the case had contained $1000 cash? Would I have done the same thing if the case had contained $2000 cash? What would I have done if the case had contained $10,000 or $1000000 cash? Knowing myself, I probably would have returned the case if it had contained $1000 or $2000. But $10,000 or $1000000 would have presented me with a very difficult dilemma. I think that in the latter two cases, I would have probably not returned the case maybe only because if I had done so, then I would have always branded myself as too weak, if not a coward of sorts.My question to the reader is: What would you do in each one of the above scenarios? In your response please make sure that you do not change any of the conditions presented above.

You will find a whole distribution of how people will react here, personally I suspect the distribution also here to be slightly fat-tailed (but much less than S&P 500, and yes more symmetrical) more greedy and evil people than expected and also more good nice people than Gaussian.I know people that found a lost blank envelope with $10000.00 in cash, without name on, just a blank envelope with cash. The owner got it back somehow with yes $10000.00 in cash. The owner was very happy Others people could find your wallet or pda and try use the information there to rob your bank account and take over your identity and even worse...

This is an interesting test in the market value of karma and also illustrates the imbedded social calculus of games.It might also be interesting to consider f(X), the function representing the monetary threshold between returning vs keeping the cash as a function of other conditions, X.Hypothesis 1: f(X) declines with distance between home and the location of where the object was found. If we find this object a block from home we would only keep it if it had a greater amount of cash as compared to if we found it on the other side of town or while on vacation.Hypothesis 2: f(X) declines with distance between home and the location of the owner. Regardless of where we find it, if we discover the owner live "near" us, then we wil l return a larger amount of cash. Imagine being on vacation in Indonesia and finding the wallet of someone who lives a few houses down from you. Wouldn't you return a higher threshold of cash than if the wallet was from someone in another country?Hypothesis 3: f(X) increases with our familiarity with the owner. f(X) might approach infinity for close family members and friends (perhaps with a sign-change for that loathsome weird uncle that always starts fights at the family reunions). Acquaintances, coworkers, classmates might enjoy a high f(X). If the owner's name is "familiar" but we've not met them, f(X) would be higher than if the owner is a complete stranger.

Doesnt the law foresee any finders' fees?

QuoteOriginally posted by: AnthisDoesnt the law foresee any finders' fees?Norway law give right to 10% if value of what you find is above 500 Kr (about $80)if what you find < 100 kr in value ($16) then right to 20%other countries I am not sure of rulesif you find 1 cent? Coin clipping

QuoteOriginally posted by: Traden4AlphaThis is an interesting test in the market value of karma and also illustrates the imbedded social calculus of games.It might also be interesting to consider f(X), the function representing the monetary threshold between returning vs keeping the cash as a function of other conditions, X.Hypothesis 1: f(X) declines with distance between home and the location of where the object was found. If we find this object a block from home we would only keep it if it had a greater amount of cash as compared to if we found it on the other side of town or while on vacation.Hypothesis 2: f(X) declines with distance between home and the location of the owner. Regardless of where we find it, if we discover the owner live "near" us, then we wil l return a larger amount of cash. Imagine being on vacation in Indonesia and finding the wallet of someone who lives a few houses down from you. Wouldn't you return a higher threshold of cash than if the wallet was from someone in another country?Hypothesis 3: f(X) increases with our familiarity with the owner. f(X) might approach infinity for close family members and friends (perhaps with a sign-change for that loathsome weird uncle that always starts fights at the family reunions). Acquaintances, coworkers, classmates might enjoy a high f(X). If the owner's name is "familiar" but we've not met them, f(X) would be higher than if the owner is a complete stranger.Agree on karma and interesting about the proximity, but I think that has some nuances. What if your nearest neighbor was Bernie Madoff and the rest of the neighborhood resembled him more closely than say Mother Teresa? In this case, you might reserve the cash, find a way to personally return the case and make your own judgment.That said, what could be purchased with the windfall:$1,000 - jewelry? Tainted tchochtkes are not worth it.$10,000 - travel. Your plane might crash.$100,000 - down payment on a new home. Could burn to the ground with you inside.$1,000,000 - who carries 1 mil in a PDA case? This cash belongs to Tony Soprano. Don' even think abboud it.

The problem with the million is how you will launder it afterwards...

QuoteOriginally posted by: mackbarQuoteOriginally posted by: Traden4AlphaThis is an interesting test in the market value of karma and also illustrates the imbedded social calculus of games.It might also be interesting to consider f(X), the function representing the monetary threshold between returning vs keeping the cash as a function of other conditions, X.Hypothesis 1: f(X) declines with distance between home and the location of where the object was found.Hypothesis 2: f(X) declines with distance between home and the location of the owner. Hypothesis 3: f(X) increases with our familiarity with the owner.Agree on karma and interesting about the proximity, but I think that has some nuances. What if your nearest neighbor was Bernie Madoff and the rest of the neighborhood resembled him more closely than say Mother Teresa?Indeed there are many nuances such as one's opinion of the owner.In addition to the moral consequences of non-return, there's also the physical consequences of non-return. If the large sum of money is covered in a suspicious white powder and the "rightful" owner is the alleged leader of the local drug cartel, then return of cash might be warranted.

I hate Wachovia. The bank owes me several thousand dollars and I intend to use the court system to get it. The other day I went and cashed a $2000 check at their counter, and the teller handed me $4000 in cash. She didn't count it out in stacks or use a machine. She just reached into her drawer, collected up some loose stacks, thumb-counted it, and handed it to me. I started to walk out. But her count seemed sloppy so I counted it myself.Given how much money they owe me, I sometimes regret giving the $2000 back. Though based on her reaction - confusion and refusal followed by heart attack - I wonder if she would have paid it out of pocket.Then a few weeks before that I gave the Citibank teller $200 to deposit in my girlfriend's account. She punched up $300, and said okay let me get you a receipt. I insisted I gave her $200. I don't know what her problem was, I think she is a jokester and should be fired.And a similar thing happened three times at stores within a few weeks of the two bank things. I can't remember the store details, but I think I walked away with $5 one time or something. If it is something I am doing, or something about how I look, I am curious what.If I found $100,000 on the street, I would determine if it belonged to someone who supported Barack Obama. If so, I would call the person and tell him to come pick it up. Then just as he walked up, I would back out of a parking spot really fast and break his legs, drive to the pub, and buy myself a Lagavulin and chuckle for a few hours with his money. AFTER ALL ITS ONLY A FEW DOLLARS AND HE CAN AFFORD IT!