nep-evo New Economics Papers
on Evolutionary Economics
Issue of 2007‒07‒13
three papers chosen by
Matthew Baker
City University of New York

  1. Convergence in Finite Cournot Oligopoly with Social and Individual Learning By Thomas VALLEE (LEN - IAE Nantes); Murat YILDIZOGLU (GREThA)
  2. Voting on a sharing norm in a dictator game By Christoph Vanberg
  3. A Non-Bayesian Approach to (Un)Bounded Rationality By Werner Güth

  1. By: Thomas VALLEE (LEN - IAE Nantes); Murat YILDIZOGLU (GREThA)
    Abstract: Convergence to Nash equilibrium in Cournot oligopoly is a problem that recurrently arises as a subject of study in economics. The development of evolutionary game theory has provided an equilibrium concept more directly connected with adjustment dynamics and the evolutionary stability of the equilibria of the Cournot game has been studied by several articles. Several articles show that the Walrasian equilibrium is the stable evolutionary solution of the Cournot game. Vriend (2000) proposes to use genetic algorithm for studying learning dynamics in this game and obtains convergence to Cournot equilibrium with individual learning. We show in this article how social learning gives rise to Walras equilibrium and why, in a general setup, individual learning can effectively yield convergence to Cournot instead of Walras equilibrium. We illustrate these general results by computational experiments.
    Keywords: Cournot oligopoly; Learning; Evolution; Selection; Evolutionary stability; Nash equilibrium; Genetic algorithms
    JEL: L13 L20 D43 C63 C73
    Date: 2007
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grt:wpegrt:2007-07&r=evo
  2. By: Christoph Vanberg (Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena, Germany.)
    Abstract: I conduct an experiment to assess whether majority voting on a non- binding sharing norm affects subsequent behavior in a dictator game. In a baseline treatment, subjects play a one shot dictator game. In a voting treatment, subjects are ï¬rst placed behind a 'veil of ignorance' and vote on the amount that those chosen to be dictators 'should' give. The outcome of the vote is referred to as a 'non-binding agreement.' The results show that a norm established in this fashion does not induce more 'fairness' on the part of those subsequently chosen to be dictators. In fact, dictators were signiï¬cantly more likely to offer nothing under the treatment. I outline a simple model to account for this 'crowding out' effect of a norm that may demand ‘too much’ of some subjects.
    Keywords: Dictator game, communication, voting, promises, agreements, behavioral economics, guilt aversion, reciprocity, fairness, obligations
    JEL: C91 C92 D63 D64 D70
    Date: 2007–07–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-036&r=evo
  3. By: Werner Güth (Max Planck Institute of Economics, Strategic Interaction Group)
    Abstract: Can one define and test the hypothesis of (un)bounded rationality in stochastic choice tasks without endorsing Bayesianism? Similar to the state specificity of assets, we rely on state-specific goal formation. In a given choice task, the list of state-specific goal levels is optimal if one cannot increase the goal level for one state without having to decrease that for other states. We show that this allows to relate optimality more easily to bounded rationality where we interpret goal levels as aspirations. If for the latter there exist choices satisfying all state-specific aspirations and if one such choice is used, we speak of satisficing which may or may not be optimal.
    Keywords: Satisficing, bounded rationality, optimality
    JEL: B4 D81 D10
    Date: 2007–07–06
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-035&r=evo

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