At our regular tutorial suppers I always pay the bill leaving my students happy and contented that they have enjoyed a meal without the inconvenience of working out who has ordered what from the menu. Turns out that maybe this is a rational approach. Dan Ariely draws on some findings from behavioural economics to look at the pain of moving from paying nothing to paying something. “It turns out that one person should pay the entire bill, and that the person paying should alternate over time.” The rest of his article is here.

Naturally there is no such thing as a free supper (lunch) - I head home and claim the bill back on expenses dividing equally between students - is this equitable? We go our regularly so maybe it all balances fairly in the end.