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Born under a lucky star?

Author

Listed:
  • Hanaki, Nobuyuki
  • Kirman, Alan
  • Marsili, Matteo

Abstract

This paper suggests that people can learn to behave in a way which makes them persistently unlucky or lucky. Learning from one's own experience, as it reinforces a few lucky or unlucky outcomes in early periods, will lead them to repeatedly make choices that lead to lucky or unlucky outcomes. In this situation, people have reasonably learned to behave as they do and their behavior is consistent with their experience. The lucky ones were not "born under a lucky star"; they learned to be lucky.

Suggested Citation

  • Hanaki, Nobuyuki & Kirman, Alan & Marsili, Matteo, 2011. "Born under a lucky star?," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 77(3), pages 382-392, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:77:y:2011:i:3:p:382-392
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    1. Aleksandra Aloric & Peter Sollich & Peter McBurney & Tobias Galla, 2015. "Emergence of Cooperative Long-term Market Loyalty in Double Auction Markets," Papers 1510.07927, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2017.
    2. Yamada, Takashi & Hanaki, Nobuyuki, 2016. "An experiment on Lowest Unique Integer Games," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 463(C), pages 88-102.
    3. Paolo Campana. Andrea Giovannetti & Paolo Pin & Roberto Rozzi, 2025. "Criminal Property Rights Suppress Violence in Urban Drug Markets: Theory and Evidence from Merseyside, U.K," Papers 2508.02561, arXiv.org.
    4. Vee-Liem Saw & Lock Yue Chew, 2020. "No-boarding buses: Synchronisation for efficiency," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(3), pages 1-34, March.
    5. Aleksandra Alori'c & Peter Sollich & Peter McBurney, 2017. "Spontaneous Segregation of Agents Across Double Auction Markets," Papers 1708.09327, arXiv.org.
    6. Aleksandra Alorić & Peter Sollich & Peter McBurney & Tobias Galla, 2016. "Emergence of Cooperative Long-Term Market Loyalty in Double Auction Markets," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(4), pages 1-26, April.

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