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Does truth win when teams reason strategically?

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  • Brosig-Koch, Jeannette
  • Heinrich, Timo
  • Helbach, Christoph

Abstract

We study behavior in the race game with the aim of assessing whether teams can create synergies. The race game has the advantage that the optimal strategy depends neither on beliefs about other players nor on distributional or efficiency concerns. Our results reveal that teams not only outperform individuals but that they can also beat the “truth-wins” benchmark. In particular, varying the length of the race game we find that the team advantage increases with the complexity of the game.

Suggested Citation

  • Brosig-Koch, Jeannette & Heinrich, Timo & Helbach, Christoph, 2014. "Does truth win when teams reason strategically?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 123(1), pages 86-89.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:123:y:2014:i:1:p:86-89
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2014.01.016
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    Cited by:

    1. William Neilson & Michael Price & Mikhael Shor, 2016. "Nudging Backward Induction," Working papers 2016-31, University of Connecticut, Department of Economics.
    2. Johann Han & Nadja Kairies‐Schwarz & Markus Vomhof, 2017. "Quality competition and hospital mergers—An experiment," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(S3), pages 36-51, December.
    3. Timothy Flannery & Cara Sibert, 2022. "Learning from Forced Completion vs. the Option to Opt Out," Review of Behavioral Economics, now publishers, vol. 9(1), pages 65-102, April.
    4. Flannery, Timothy & Sibert, Cara Elisabeth, 2019. "Learning from Forced Completion vs the Option to Opt Out: An Experiment on a Hybrid of the Game of 21 and the Centipede Game," OSF Preprints vfuqw, Center for Open Science.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Race game; Strategic reasoning; Team decision making;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior

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