Question

Assume that this class was graded on a curve (it is not, but let's just pretend). If the members of your class were to attempt to form a study-reduction cartel in which everyone agreed to study less, which individuals would have the most to gain from the cartel? Which ones would have the greatest incentive to cheat on the cartel? Why? Ultimately, do you think the cartel would be effective in reducing study time for students? Why?

Answer 1

The lowest performers in class would gain the most while the top performers will have the greatest incentive to cheat. The cartel is not likely to be effective.

Step-by-step explanation:

A cartel is a coalition or an agreement among the members to promote a mutual interest. In the given scenario, a cartel is formed by students of a class, all agreeing to study less.

The lowest performers of the class, who studied the least before the cartel, would gain most from it. That is because the new agreement is merely reinforcing their behavior and their grades are not likely to be much affected by the change.

The top performers of the class, who studied a lot more before the cartel, would have the greatest incentive to cheat. That is because they have the ability to study for longer and are used to obtaining the best grades. Hence, they would be motivated to cheat and maintain their high performance.

Ultimately, the cartel is not likely to be effective in reducing the study time because some of the students would be motivated to cheat. Moreover, there is no way of ensuring that all students study less and abide by the agreement.

Answer 2

Less intelligent students would have incentive to betray the cartel.

Step-by-step explanation:

Cartels are deals made by companies to make bigger profits. In this case, if students formed a cartel to shorten their study time, the smarter students would have more advantages, as their grades would naturally be higher, thus benefiting from the cartel. On the other hand, less intelligent students would be likely to betray the cartel because their grades would be lower despite studying the same amount. So the incentive to cheat would be to increase your grades. Therefore, the cartel would not be effective in reducing study time because students have incentives to betray the agreements made.