This paper presents an experimental test of the relationship between game harmony and cooperation in 2 x 2 games. Game harmony measures describe how harmonious (non-conflictual) or disharmonious (conflictual) the interests of players are, as embodied in the payoffs: coordination games and constant-sum games are examples of games of perfect harmony and disharmony, respectively; most games are somewhere in the middle. Correlation coefficients between measured harmony and cooperation rates were above 0.8 in an experiment with games such as the Prisoner`s Dilemma, the Stag-Hunt, a coordination game and three trust games, and above 0.55 in an experiment with random games.
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Paper provided by University of Oxford, Department of Economics in its series Economics Series Working Papers with number
151.
Find related papers by JEL classification: C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods