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First-Mover Advantage In Two-Sided Competitions: An Experimental Comparison Of Role-Assignment Rules

Author

Listed:
  • Bradley J. Ruffle

    (BGU)

  • Oscar Volij

    (BGU)

Abstract

Kingston (1976) and Anderson (1977) show that the probability that a given contestant wins a best-of-2k+1 series of asymmetric, zero-sum, binary-outcome games is, for a large class of assignment rules, independent of which contestant is assigned the advantageous role in each component game. We design a laboratory experiment to test this hypothesis for four simple role-assignment rules. Despite the fact that play does not uniformly conform to the equilibrium, our results show that the four assignment rules are observationally equivalent at the series level: the fraction of series won by a given contestant and all other series outcomes do not differ across the four rules.

Suggested Citation

  • Bradley J. Ruffle & Oscar Volij, 2012. "First-Mover Advantage In Two-Sided Competitions: An Experimental Comparison Of Role-Assignment Rules," Working Papers 1208, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:bgu:wpaper:1208
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Walker, Mark & Wooders, John & Amir, Rabah, 2011. "Equilibrium play in matches: Binary Markov games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 71(2), pages 487-502, March.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    experimental economics; two-sided competitions; best-of series;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C90 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - General
    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • L83 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Services - - - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism

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