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Robustness to strategic uncertainty in price competition

Author

Listed:
  • Andersson, Ola

    (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics)

  • Argenton, Cédric

    (Tilburg University)

  • Weibull, Jörgen

    (Dept. of Economics, Stockholm School of Economics)

Abstract

We model a player's uncertainty about other player's strategy choices as probability distributions over their strategy sets. We call a strategy profile robust to strategic uncertainty if it is the limit, as uncertainty vanishes, of some sequence of strategy profiles in each of which every player's strategy is optimal under his or her uncertainty about the pthers. We apply this definition to Bertrand games with a continuum of equilibrium prices and show that our robustness criterion selects a unique Nash equilibrium price. This selection agrees with available experimental findings.

Suggested Citation

  • Andersson, Ola & Argenton, Cédric & Weibull, Jörgen, 2010. "Robustness to strategic uncertainty in price competition," SSE/EFI Working Paper Series in Economics and Finance 0726, Stockholm School of Economics, revised 08 Apr 2010.
  • Handle: RePEc:hhs:hastef:0726
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Giordani, Paolo E. & Ruta, Michele, 2013. "Coordination failures in immigration policy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 89(1), pages 55-67.
    2. Andersson, Ola & Argenton, Cédric & Weibull, Jörgen W., 2014. "Robustness to strategic uncertainty," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 272-288.
    3. Bajoori, Elnaz & Flesch, János & Vermeulen, Dries, 2013. "Perfect equilibrium in games with compact action spaces," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 490-502.
    4. Philippe Bich, 2016. "Prudent Equilibria and Strategic Uncertainty in Discontinuous Games," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-01337293, HAL.
    5. Philippe Bich, 2016. "Prudent Equilibria and Strategic Uncertainty in Discontinuous Games," Working Papers halshs-01337293, HAL.
    6. Bich, Philippe, 2019. "Strategic uncertainty and equilibrium selection in discontinuous games," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 183(C), pages 786-822.
    7. Andersson, Ola & Argenton, Cédric & Weibull, Jörgen W., 2018. "Robustness to strategic uncertainty in the Nash demand game," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 1-5.
    8. Argenton, Cédric & Müller, Wieland, 2012. "Collusion in experimental Bertrand duopolies with convex costs: The role of cost asymmetry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 508-517.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Nash equilibrium; refinement; strategic uncertainty; price competition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

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