The common prior assumption is pervasive in game-theoretic models with incomplete information. This paper investigates experimentally the importance of inducing a common prior in a two-person signaling game. For a specific probability distribution of the sender's type, the long-run behavior without an induced common prior is shown to be different from the behavior when a common prior is induced, while for other distributions behavior is similar under both regimes. We also present a learning model that allows players to learn about the other players' strategies and the prior distribution of the sender's type. We show that this learning model accurately accounts for all main features of the data.
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Paper provided by Department of Economics, University of York in its series Discussion Papers with number
09/08.
Length: Date of creation: Apr 2009 Date of revision: Handle: RePEc:yor:yorken:09/08
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Paper
Michalis Drouvelis & Wieland Mueller & Alex Possajennikov, 2009.
"Signaling without common prior: An experiment,"
Discussion Papers
2009-08, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
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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.:
Eddie Dekel & Drew Fudenberg & David K. Levine, 2000.
"Learning to Play Bayesian Games,"
Discussion Papers
1322, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science, revised Jul 2001.
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