And another one: If money-pumping is successful enough, the victim goes broke, and no more money pumping. Eventually all potential victims go broke or wise up.
This seems to happen. Penny auctions like Swoopo have been called “as close to pure, distilled evil in a business plan as I’ve ever seen”, but where the data allows, people seem to gradually realize how they’re being pumped and attrit away (see http://www.gwern.net/Sunk%20cost#fn35 )
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And another one: If money-pumping is successful enough, the victim goes broke, and no more money pumping. Eventually all potential victims go broke or wise up.
This seems to happen. Penny auctions like Swoopo have been called “as close to pure, distilled evil in a business plan as I’ve ever seen”, but where the data allows, people seem to gradually realize how they’re being pumped and attrit away (see http://www.gwern.net/Sunk%20cost#fn35 )