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Experientia Docet: Professionals Play Minimax in Laboratory Experiments

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Author Info
Ignacio Palacios-Huerta
Oscar Volij

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Abstract

We study how professional players and college students play zero-sum two-person strategic games in a laboratory setting. We first ask professionals to play a 2 × 2 game that is formally identical to a strategic interaction situation that they face in their natural environment. Consistent with their behavior in the field, they play very close to the equilibrium of the game. In particular, (i) they equate their strategies' payoffs to the equilibrium ones and (ii) they generate sequences of choices that are serially independent. In sharp contrast, however, we find that college students play the game far from the equilibrium predictions. We then study the behavior of professional players and college students in the classic O'Neill 4 × 4 zero-sum game, a game that none of the subjects has encountered previously, and find the same differences in the behavior of these two pools of subjects. The transfer of skills and experience from the familiar field to the unfamiliar laboratory observed for professional players is relevant to evaluate the circumstances under which behavior in a laboratory setting may be a reliable indicator of behavior in a naturally occurring setting. From a cognitive perspective, it is useful for research on recognition processes, intuition, and similarity as a basis for inductive reasoning. Copyright The Econometric Society 2008.

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File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1468-0262.2008.00818.x
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Publisher Info
Article provided by Econometric Society in its journal Econometrica.

Volume (Year): 76 (2008)
Issue (Month): 1 (01)
Pages: 71-115
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Handle: RePEc:ecm:emetrp:v:76:y:2008:i:1:p:71-115

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  1. Reuben, Ernesto & Suetens, Sigrid, 2009. "Revisiting Strategic versus Non-Strategic Cooperation," IZA Discussion Papers 4107, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  2. Timothy N. Cason & Daniel Friedman & Ed Hopkins, 2009. "Testing the TASP: An Experimental Investigation of Learning in Games with Unstable Equilibria," ESE Discussion Papers 188, Edinburgh School of Economics, University of Edinburgh. [Downloadable!]
  3. Subhasish Dugar & Haimanti Bhattacharya, 2008. "The Power of Reasoning: Experimental Evidence," Working Paper Series, Department of Economics, University of Utah 2008_20, University of Utah, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  4. Antonio Cabrales & Jose Ramon Uriarte, 2008. "Doubts and equilibria," Economics Working Papers we080905, Universidad Carlos III, Departamento de Economía. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
    • Antonio Cabrales & José Ramón Uriarte Ayo, 2008. "Doubts and Equilibria," IKERLANAK 200831, Universidad del País Vasco - Departamento de Fundamentos del Análisis Económico I. [Downloadable!]
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