- Pie method
The pie method is a method for fairly dividing a
pie between two people (although the value of this approach is that it applies to any divisible goods). The basic idea is that one person cuts the pie, and the other person chooses which of the two pieces he wants. The person who cuts the pie has the opportunity to divide it into two pieces he believes to be equal; if this is the case, it should not matter to this person which of the two pieces the other person chooses. If the second person believes the pie has been cut unequally, this is not a problem; he merely chooses the piece he believes to be larger.This procedure can be readily extended to more than two people. The first person cuts a piece he believes to be an even share. Then, in some order, each of the other people is given the chance to take that piece of pie. The person who cut the piece gets that piece if and only if all the other people reject it. The procedure then continues for the remainder of the pie with the next person in order who does not already have a piece of pie making the next cut. Note that the success of this procedure excludes the possibility of
collusion ; however, the effects of collusion can be reduced if arandom rather than fixed order is used.A related idea in
social philosophy is theveil of ignorance .
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