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Commitment and Observability in an Economic Environment

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V. Bhaskar ()

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Abstract

Bagwell (1995) argues that commitment in undermined by the slightest imperfectness in observation. Guth, Ritzberger & Kirchsteiger (1998) question this assertion: for any finite leader-follower game, with arbitrary many players in each role and generic payoffs, they show that there always exists a subgame perfect equilibrium outcome that is accessible, i.e. it can be approximated by the outcome of a mixed equilibrium of the game with imperfect observation. We show that accessibility fails in a class of games played in economic environments, where the payoffs to commitment actions depend upon prices set by other agents, prices being chosen from a continuum. Accessibility requires either that commitment is not required or that the price setting agents have no monopoly power. Our result follows from a generalized indifference principle which mixed strategies must satisfy in such economic environments.

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Paper provided by University of Essex, Department of Economics in its series Economics Discussion Papers with number 596.

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Date of creation: 17 Jul 2005
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Handle: RePEc:esx:essedp:596

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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. Felix Várdy & John Morgan, 2005. "The Value of Commitment in Contests and Tournaments when Observation is Costly," Public Economics 0504005, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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  2. van Damme, Eric & Hurkens, Sjaak, 1997. "Games with Imperfectly Observable Commitment," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 21(1-2), pages 282-308, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Huck, Steffen & Muller, Wieland, 2000. "Perfect versus Imperfect Observability--An Experimental Test of Bagwell's Result," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 174-190, May. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  4. Giovanni Maggi, 1999. "The Value of Commitment with Imperfect Observability and Private Information," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 30(4), pages 555-574, Winter. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Jorg Oechssler & Karl Schlag, 1997. "An Evolutionary Analysis of Bagwell's Example," Game Theory and Information 9704001, EconWPA, revised 11 Apr 1997. [Downloadable!]
  6. Bhaskar, V. & van Damme, Eric, 2002. "Moral Hazard and Private Monitoring," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 102(1), pages 16-39, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. V. Bhaskar, 2004. "Games Played in a Contracting Environment," Economics Discussion Papers 583, University of Essex, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  8. Vardy, Felix, 2004. "The value of commitment in Stackelberg games with observation costs," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 374-400, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Werner GÜTH & Georg KIRCHSTEIGER & Klaus RITZBERGER, 1995. "Imperfectly Observable Commitments in n-Player Games," Vienna Economics Papers vie9507, University of Vienna, Department of Economics.
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  1. V. Bhaskar, 2004. "Games Played in a Contracting Environment," Economics Discussion Papers 583, University of Essex, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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