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Batch queues with choice of arrivals: Equilibrium analysis and experimental study

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  • Stein, William E.
  • Rapoport, Amnon
  • Seale, Darryl A.
  • Zhang, Hongtao
  • Zwick, Rami

Abstract

We study both theoretically and experimentally the decisions players make in two queueing games with batch service. In both games, players are asked to independently decide when to join a discrete-time queue to receive service, or they may simply choose not to join it at all. Equilibrium solutions in pure and mixed strategies are constructed for two games where balking is prohibited and where it is allowed. They are then tested experimentally in a study that varies the game type (balking vs. no balking) and information structure (private vs. public information) in a 2X2 between-subject design. With repeated iterations of the stage game, all four experimental conditions result in aggregate, but not individual, behavior approaching mixed-strategy equilibrium play.
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  • Stein, William E. & Rapoport, Amnon & Seale, Darryl A. & Zhang, Hongtao & Zwick, Rami, 2007. "Batch queues with choice of arrivals: Equilibrium analysis and experimental study," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 59(2), pages 345-363, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:59:y:2007:i:2:p:345-363
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    Cited by:

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    2. Anouar El Haji & Sander Onderstal, 2019. "Trading places: An experimental comparison of reallocation mechanisms for priority queuing," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(4), pages 670-686, November.
    3. Czerny, Achim I. & Guo, Pengfei & Hassin, Refael, 2022. "Shall firms withhold exact waiting time information from their customers? A transport example," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 128-142.
    4. Rapoport, Amnon & Stein, William E. & Mak, Vincent & Zwick, Rami & Seale, Darryl A., 2010. "Endogenous arrivals in batch queues with constant or variable capacity," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 44(10), pages 1166-1185, December.
    5. Breinbjerg, Jesper & Østerdal, Lars Peter, 2017. "Equilibrium Arrival Times to Queues: The Case of Last-Come First-Serve Preemptive-Resume," Discussion Papers on Economics 3/2017, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics.
    6. Jesper Breinbjerg & Alexander Sebald & Lars Peter Østerdal, 2016. "Strategic behavior and social outcomes in a bottleneck queue: experimental evidence," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 20(3), pages 207-236, September.
    7. Ziani, Sofiane & Rahmoune, Fazia & Radjef, Mohammed Said, 2015. "Customers’ strategic behavior in batch arrivals M2/M/1 queue," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 247(3), pages 895-903.
    8. Sun, Li & Liu, Like & Xu, Zhongzhi & Jie, Yang & Wei, Dong & Wang, Pu, 2015. "Locating inefficient links in a large-scale transportation network," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 419(C), pages 537-545.
    9. Delgado-Alvarez, Carlos A. & van Ackere, Ann & Larsen, Erik R & Arango-Aramburo, Santiago, 2017. "Managing capacity at a service facility: An experimental approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 259(1), pages 216-228.
    10. repec:cup:judgdm:v:11:y:2016:i:3:p:260-274 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Drichoutis, Andreas C. & Grimm, Veronika & Karakostas, Alexandros, 2020. "Bribing to Queue-Jump: An experiment on cultural differences in bribing attitudes among Greeks and Germans," MPRA Paper 102775, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Moshe Haviv & Liron Ravner, 2021. "A survey of queueing systems with strategic timing of arrivals," Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 99(1), pages 163-198, October.
    13. Breinbjerg, Jesper, 2016. "Strategic Arrival Times to Queueing Systems," Discussion Papers on Economics 6/2016, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics.
    14. Anna Conte & Marco Scarsini & Oktay Sürücü, 2014. "An Experimental Investigation into Queueing Behavior," Jena Economics Research Papers 2014-030, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena.
    15. Conte, Anna & Scarsini, Marco & Sürücü, Oktay, 2015. "Does time pressure impair performance? An experiment on queueing behavior," Center for Mathematical Economics Working Papers 538, Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University.
    16. Breinbjerg, Jesper & Platz, Trine Tornøe & Østerdal, Lars Peter, 2020. "Equilibrium Arrivals to a Last-come First-served Preemptive-resume Queue," Working Papers 17-2020, Copenhagen Business School, Department of Economics.
    17. Breinbjerg, Jesper, 2017. "Equilibrium arrival times to queues with general service times and non-linear utility functions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 261(2), pages 595-605.
    18. Otsubo, Hironori & Rapoport, Amnon, 2008. "Vickrey's model of traffic congestion discretized," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 42(10), pages 873-889, December.

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