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Further Field Evidence for Minimax Play

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  • Thomas Dohmen
  • Hendrik Sonnabend

Abstract

This article provides evidence for mixed strategy play in a natural setting, using data from penalty kicking in professional German soccer. A penalty kick is a two-person constant-sum game. We distinguish two strategies for both players, namely, choosing left or right and verify empirically that the two main requirements for the existence of a Nash equilibrium in mixed strategies are met: (1) the expected payoffs are equal across strategies and (2) we cannot reject the hypothesis that players choose their actions randomly.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Dohmen & Hendrik Sonnabend, 2018. "Further Field Evidence for Minimax Play," Journal of Sports Economics, , vol. 19(3), pages 371-388, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:jospec:v:19:y:2018:i:3:p:371-388
    DOI: 10.1177/1527002516656729
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    6. Steven D. Levitt & John A. List & David H. Reiley, 2010. "What Happens in the Field Stays in the Field: Exploring Whether Professionals Play Minimax in Laboratory Experiments," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 78(4), pages 1413-1434, July.
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    Cited by:

    1. Lackner, Mario & Sonnabend, Hendrik, 2021. "Coping with advantageous inequity—Field evidence from professional penalty kicking," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    2. Heifetz, Aviad & Heller, Ruth & Ostreiher, Roni, 2021. "Do Arabian babblers play mixed strategies in a “volunteer’s dilemma”?," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 91(C).

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