The line item veto is probably a bad choice to use as an example. In the current US political climate, there is a significant life to the meme of paralyzing washington on purpose to get spending down “at any expense.” So the problem with your current example is the current American may look at it and think you are presenting lower over all spending as some kind of win, when int his example it is intended to show a loss to both sides.
And indeed, it seems a president who wanted lower overall spending would support the line item veto. She could then get the credit for vetoing the things her constituents don’t want and lay the blame for under funding the things her constituents do want on the opposite party. And of course take the credit for a lower overall budget irrespective of what she would have done running open loop. Is this an example of some more complex game theory, or do results like this come about relatively straightforwardly in simple game theory?
The line item veto is probably a bad choice to use as an example. In the current US political climate, there is a significant life to the meme of paralyzing washington on purpose to get spending down “at any expense.” So the problem with your current example is the current American may look at it and think you are presenting lower over all spending as some kind of win, when int his example it is intended to show a loss to both sides.
And indeed, it seems a president who wanted lower overall spending would support the line item veto. She could then get the credit for vetoing the things her constituents don’t want and lay the blame for under funding the things her constituents do want on the opposite party. And of course take the credit for a lower overall budget irrespective of what she would have done running open loop. Is this an example of some more complex game theory, or do results like this come about relatively straightforwardly in simple game theory?