Flipping a coin a thousand times with a thousand people will result in a similar number of heads, around 500. The law of large numbers requires even larger numbers for accurate results. In the game Russian roulette, playing once with a thousand people results in 17% deaths and 83% returns. These are non-ergodic processes, which are the focus of interest.
Author and consultant Luca Dellanna talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the importance of avoiding ruin when facing risk. Along the way Dellanna makes understandable the arcane concept of ergodicity and shows the importance of avoiding ruin in every day life.