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Competition as a coordination device: Experimental evidence from a minimum effort coordination game

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Author Info
Riechmann, Thomas
Weimann, Joachim

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Abstract

This paper presents a means of fostering efficient coordination in minimum effort coordination games, inter-group competition. In a series of laboratory experiments, we reveal that the true reason for coordination failure is strategic uncertainty, which can be reduced almost completely by introducing an appropriately designed mechanism of (inter-group) competition. We uncover the reasons why competition works as a coordination device and how the mechanism of competition should be designed in order to achieve a maximum degree of efficiency.

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Publisher Info
Article provided by Elsevier in its journal European Journal of Political Economy.

Volume (Year): 24 (2008)
Issue (Month): 2 (June)
Pages: 437-454
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Handle: RePEc:eee:poleco:v:24:y:2008:i:2:p:437-454

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Web page: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505544

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Straub, Paul G., 1995. "Risk dominance and coordination failures in static games," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 339-363. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Blume, Andreas & Ortmann, Andreas, 2007. "The effects of costless pre-play communication: Experimental evidence from games with Pareto-ranked equilibria," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 274-290, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Cooper, Russell, et al, 1992. "Communication in Coordination Games," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 107(2), pages 739-71, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. COOPER, R. & DEJONG, D.V. & FORSYTHE, R. & Tom Ross, 1989. "Communication In Coordination Games," Carleton Industrial Organization Research Unit (CIORU) 89-07, Carleton University, Department of Economics.
  5. Williamson, Oliver E, 1993. "Contested Exchange versus the Governance of Contractual Relations," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 103-08, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Nalbantian, Haig R & Schotter, Andrew, 1997. "Productivity under Group Incentives: An Experimental Study," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 87(3), pages 314-41, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. C. Monica Capra & Charles A. Holt, 1999. "Coordination," Southern Economic Journal, Southern Economic Association, vol. 65(3), pages 630-636, January.
  8. Christiane Clemens & Thomas Riechmann, 2003. "Relative Payoffs and Evolutionary Spite --- Evolutionary Equilibria in Games with Finitely Many Players," Computing in Economics and Finance 2003 98, Society for Computational Economics.
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  9. Young, H Peyton, 1993. "The Evolution of Conventions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 61(1), pages 57-84, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Cooper, Russell & John, Andrew, 1988. "Coordinating Coordination Failures in Keynesian Models," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 103(3), pages 441-63, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Stiglitz, Joseph E, 1993. "Post Walrasian and Post Marxian Economics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 109-14, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Bowles, Samuel & Gintis, Herbert, 1993. "The Revenge of Homo Economicus: Contested Exchange and the Revival of Political Economy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 83-102, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Cooper, Russell, 1994. "Equilibrium Selection in Imperfectly Competitive Economies with Multiple Equilibria," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 104(426), pages 1106-22, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Berninghaus, Siegfried K. & Ehrhart, Karl-Martin, 1998. "Time horizon and equilibrium selection in tacit coordination games: Experimental results," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 231-248, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Goeree, Jacob K. & Holt, Charles A., 2005. "An experimental study of costly coordination," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 51(2), pages 349-364, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Urs Fischbacher, 2007. "z-Tree: Zurich toolbox for ready-made economic experiments," Experimental Economics, Springer, vol. 10(2), pages 171-178, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Ernesto Reuben & Jean-Robert Tyran, 2008. "Everyone Is A Winner: Promoting Cooperation Through Non-Rival Intergroup Competition," Discussion Papers 08-26, University of Copenhagen. Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  2. Reuben, Ernesto & Tyran, Jean-Robert, 2009. "Everyone is a Winner: Promoting Cooperation through All-Can-Win Intergroup Competition," IZA Discussion Papers 4112, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  3. Thomas Chesney & Swee-Hoon Chuah & Robert Hoffmann, 2007. "Virtual world experimentation: An exploratory study," Discussion Papers 2007-14, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham. [Downloadable!]
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