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Experimentally Observed Imitation and Cooperation in Price Competition on the Circle

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Author Info
Reinhard Selten
Jose Apesteguia

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Abstract

This paper reports an experiment on a location game, the so-called "Price-Competition on the Circle." There are n symmetric firms equidistantly located on a circle. Consumers are uniformly distributed. Each consumer buys one and only one unit from that firm whose price, including the cost of transportation, is the lowest, provided such a price is below a maximum willingness to pay. Experiments, extended over 200 periods, were run with 3, 4, and 5 participants. Subjects did not receive any information about the relationship between prices and profits, but they received feedback on prices and profits of two neighbors after each period. The evaluation compares predictions derived from imitation equilibrium (Selten and Ostmann 2001) and Cournot equilibrium, as well as symmetric joint-profit maximization. The results qualitatively favor imitation equilibrium, as long as no cooperation is observed.

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File URL: ftp://web.bgse.uni-bonn.de/pub/RePEc/bon/bonedp/bgse19_2002.pdf
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Publisher Info
Paper provided by University of Bonn, Germany in its series Bonn Econ Discussion Papers with number bgse19_2002.

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Length: 28
Date of creation: Aug 2002
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:bon:bonedp:bgse19_2002

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Postal: Bonn Graduate School of Economics, University of Bonn, Adenauerallee 24 - 26, 53113 Bonn, Germany
Fax: +49 228 73 9221
Web page: http://www.bgse.uni-bonn.de/index.php?id=494

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Related research
Keywords: Imitation Cooperation Location Experiments

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
R32 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - Production Analysis and Firm Location - - - Other Production and Pricing Analysis

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References listed on IDEAS
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. Reinhard Selten & Axel Ostmann, 2001. "Imitation Equilibrium," Homo Oeconomicus, Institute of SocioEconomics, vol. 18, pages 111-149.
    Other versions:
  2. Offerman, Theo & Potters, Jan & Sonnemans, Joep, 2002. "Imitation and Belief Learning in an Oligopoly Experiment," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 69(4), pages 973-97, October.
    Other versions:
  3. Huck, Steffen & Normann, Hans-Theo & Oechssler, Jorg, 2000. "Does information about competitors' actions increase or decrease competition in experimental oligopoly markets?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 39-57, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Abbink, Klaus, and Abdolkarim Sadrieh, 1995. "RatImage - research Assistance Toolbox for Computer-Aided Human Behavior Experiments," Discussion Paper Serie B 325, University of Bonn, Germany.
  5. Steven C. Salop, 1979. "Monopolistic Competition with Outside Goods," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 141-156, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Antoni Bosch-Domènech & Nicolaas J. Vriend, 1998. "Imitation of Succesful Behavior in Cournot Markets," Economics Working Papers 269, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised May 1999. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Steffen Huck & Hans-Theo Normann & Joerg Oechssler, 1997. "Learning in Cournot Oligopoly - An Experiment," Game Theory and Information 9707009, EconWPA, revised 22 Jul 1997. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
Full references

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. Jose Apesteguia & Steffen Huck & Jörg Oechssler, 2005. "Imitation - Theory and Experimental Evidence -," Working Papers 0419, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics, revised Apr 2005. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Cartwright, Edward, 2003. "Learning To Play Approximate Nash Equilibria In Games With Many Players," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 671, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. David Chavalarias, 2006. "L'approche systèmes complexes de la cognition sociale : une façon de penser l'auto-transformation du social ?," Pre- and Post-Print documents halshs-00088411_v1, HAL. [Downloadable!]
  4. José Apesteguia & Martin Dufwenberg & Reinhard Selten, 2003. "Blowing the Whistle," Bonn Econ Discussion Papers bgse9_2003, University of Bonn, Germany. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Jordi Brandts & Klaus Abbink, 2004. "24," Levine's Bibliography 122247000000000073, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  6. Klaus Abbink & Jordi Brandts, 2002. "Price competition under cost uncertainty: A laboratory analysis," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 550.02, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC). [Downloadable!]
  7. Apesteguia, Jose & Huck, Steffen & Oechssler, Jörg & Weidenholzer, Simon, 2007. "Imitation and the Evolution of Walrasian Behavior: Theoretically Fragile but Behaviorally Robust," Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications 07-69, Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim & Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Klaus Abbink & Jordi Brandts, 2005. "Collusion in Growing and Shrinking Markets: Empirical Evidence from Experimental Duopolies," Discussion Papers 2005-03, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham. [Downloadable!]
  9. Edward Cartwright, 2007. "Imitation, coordination and the emergence of Nash equilibrium," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer, vol. 36(1), pages 119-135, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Klaus Abbink & Jordi Brandts, 2005. "Collusion in Growing and Shrinking Markets: Empirical Evidence from Experimental Duopolies," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 648.05, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC). [Downloadable!]
  11. Cartwright, Edward, 2003. "Imitation and the Emergence of Nash Equilibrium Play in Games with Many Players," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 684, University of Warwick, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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