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Endogenous Transfers in the Prisoner's Dilemma Game: An Experimental Test Of Cooperation And Coordination

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Author Info
Gary Charness (Economics Department, University of California, Santa Barbara)
Cheng-Zhong Qin (University of California, Santa Barbara)

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Abstract

We study experimentally a two-stage compensation mechanism for promoting cooperation in prisoner's dilemma games. In stage 1, players simultaneously choose binding non-negative amounts to pay their counterparts for cooperating in a given prisoner's dilemma game, and then play the prisoner's dilemma game in stage 2 with knowledge of these amounts. For the asymmetric prisoner's dilemma games we consider, all payment pairs consistent with mutual cooperation in subgame-perfect equilibrium transform these prisoner's dilemma games into coordination games, with both mutual cooperation and mutual defection as Nash equilibria in the stage-2 game. We find considerable empirical support for the mechanism, as cooperation is much more common when these endogenous transfer payments are feasible. We identify patterns among transfer pairs that affect the likelihood of cooperation. Mutual cooperation is most likely when the payments are identical; it is also substantially more likely with payment pairs that bring the payoffs from mutual cooperation closer together than with payment pairs that cause them to diverge. There is substantial scope for this compensation mechanism to achieve beneficial social outcomes in commerce and in international affairs, and reason to be concerned about the ability of firms to design collusive agreements.

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Paper provided by Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara in its series University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series with number 01-05.

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Date of creation: 06 Feb 2005
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Handle: RePEc:cdl:ucsbec:01-05

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Keywords: Prisoner's dilemma; Endogenous transfer payments; Compensation mechanism; Coase theorem; Coordination games; Equilibrium selection;

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  1. Gary Charness & Matthew Rabin, 2002. "Understanding Social Preferences With Simple Tests," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 117(3), pages 817-869, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Hoffman, Elizabeth & Spitzer, Matthew L, 1982. "The Coase Theorem: Some Experimental Tests," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 25(1), pages 73-98, April.
  3. John Duffy & Jack Ochs, 2004. "Cooperative Behavior and the Frequency of Social Interaction," Levine's Bibliography 122247000000000108, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  4. Pedro Dal Bó, 2002. "Cooperation Under the Shadow of the Future: Experimental Evidence from Infinitely Repeated Games," Working Papers 2002-20, Brown University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Kahneman, Daniel & Knetsch, Jack L & Thaler, Richard H, 1990. "Experimental Tests of the Endowment Effect and the Coase Theorem," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 98(6), pages 1325-48, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Juergen Bracht & Charles Figuieres & Marisa Ratto, 2004. "Relative performance of two simple incentive mechanisms in a public good experiment," The Centre for Market and Public Organisation 04/102, Department of Economics, University of Bristol, UK. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Andreoni, James A & Miller, John H, 1993. "Rational Cooperation in the Finitely Repeated Prisoner's Dilemma: Experimental Evidence," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 103(418), pages 570-85, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. repec:att:wimass:19199918 is not listed on IDEAS
  9. Falkinger, Josef, 1996. "Efficient private provision of public goods by rewarding deviations from average," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(3), pages 413-422, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Yasuyo Hamaguchi & Satoshi Mitani & Tatsuyoshi Saijo, 2004. "Does the Varian Mechanism Work? -Emissions Trading as an Example," Discussion papers 04009, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI). [Downloadable!]
  11. Cooper, Russell & DeJong, Douglas V. & Forsythe, Robert & Ross, Thomas W., 1996. "Cooperation without Reputation: Experimental Evidence from Prisoner's Dilemma Games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 12(2), pages 187-218, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Roth, Alvin E, 1988. "Laboratory Experimentation in Economics: A Methodological Overview," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 98(393), pages 974-1031, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Moore, John & Repullo, Rafael, 1988. "Subgame Perfect Implementation," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(5), pages 1191-1220, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Josef Falkinger & Ernst Fehr & Simon Gaechter, . "A Simple Mechanism for the Efficient Provision of Public Goods - Experimental Evidence," IEW - Working Papers iewwp003, Institute for Empirical Research in Economics - IEW. [Downloadable!]
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  15. Gary E. Bolton & Axel Ockenfels, 2000. "ERC: A Theory of Equity, Reciprocity, and Competition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(1), pages 166-193, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Ernst Fehr & Klaus M. Schmidt, 1999. "A Theory Of Fairness, Competition, And Cooperation," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 114(3), pages 817-868, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  17. Harrison, Glenn W & McKee, Michael, 1985. "Experimental Evaluation of the Coase Theorem," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(3), pages 653-70, October.
  18. Williamson, Oliver E, 1983. "Credible Commitments: Using Hostages to Support Exchange," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 73(4), pages 519-40, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Martin Beckenkamp & Heike Hennig-Schmidt & Frank P. Maier-Rigaud, 2007. "Cooperation in Symmetric and Asymmetric Prisoner's Dilemma Games," Working Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2006_25, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods. [Downloadable!]
  2. Pedro Dal Bo & Guillaume R. Frechette, . "The Evolution of Cooperation in Infinitely Repeated Games: Experimental Evidence," Working Papers 2007-7, Brown University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  3. Cheng-Zhong Qin, 2005. "Penalties and Rewards As Inducements To Cooperate," University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series 13-02R, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara. [Downloadable!]
  4. Landeo, Claudia M. & Spier, Kathryn E., 2007. "Naked Exclusion: An Experimental Study of Contracts with Externalities," MPRA Paper 9143, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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