Toilet seat etiquette - a formal analysis

An economics student does a full analysis utilising game theory to determine the optimal strategy for people to follow when deciding on whether to leave the toilet seat up or down.

His conclusion is that it is utility-maximising to follow the selfish option and leave the toilet as is when finished. This leaves the next person to use the toilet responsible for moving the seat if necessary.

Any other option, such as always leaving the seat down does not minimise effort and inconvenience.