IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/90001.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Generalising Conflict Networks

Author

Listed:
  • Cortes-Corrales, Sebastián
  • Gorny, Paul M.

Abstract

We investigate the behaviour of agents in bilateral contests within arbitrary network structures when valuations and efficiencies are heterogenous. These parameters are interpreted as measures of strength. We provide conditions for when unique, pure strategy equilibria exist. When a player starts attacking one player more strongly, others join in on fighting the victim. Different efficiencies in fighting make players fight those of similar strength. Centrality of a player (having more enemies) makes a player weaker and her opponents are more likely to attack with more effort.

Suggested Citation

  • Cortes-Corrales, Sebastián & Gorny, Paul M., 2018. "Generalising Conflict Networks," MPRA Paper 90001, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:90001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/90001/1/MPRA_paper_90001.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Weinstein Jonathan, 2012. "Two Notes on the Blotto Game," The B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, March.
    2. Dan Kovenock & Sudipta Sarangi & Matt Wiser, 2015. "All-pay 2 $$\times $$ × 2 Hex: a multibattle contest with complementarities," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 44(3), pages 571-597, August.
    3. Kenan Huremović, 2021. "A noncooperative model of contest network formation," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 23(2), pages 275-317, April.
    4. Hirshleifer, Jack, 1995. "Theorizing about conflict," Handbook of Defense Economics, in: Keith Hartley & Todd Sandler (ed.), Handbook of Defense Economics, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 7, pages 165-189, Elsevier.
    5. Michael D. König & Dominic Rohner & Mathias Thoenig & Fabrizio Zilibotti, 2017. "Networks in Conflict: Theory and Evidence From the Great War of Africa," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 85, pages 1093-1132, July.
    6. Yann Bramoullé & Andrea Galeotti & Brian Rogers, 2016. "The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Networks," Post-Print hal-01447842, HAL.
    7. J. David Pérez-Castrillo & Thierry Verdier, 1992. "A general analysis of rent-seeking games," Springer Books, in: Roger D. Congleton & Arye L. Hillman & Kai A. Konrad (ed.), 40 Years of Research on Rent Seeking 1, pages 133-148, Springer.
    8. Yann Bramoullé & Andrea Galeotti & Brian Rogers, 2016. "The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Networks," Post-Print hal-03572533, HAL.
    9. Jackson, Matthew O. & Nei, Stephen, 2014. "Networks of Military Alliances, Wars, and International Trade," Climate Change and Sustainable Development 172702, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    10. Stergios Skaperdas, 1996. "Contest success functions (*)," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 7(2), pages 283-290.
    11. Charles S. Gochman & Zeev Maoz, 1984. "Militarized Interstate Disputes, 1816-1976," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 28(4), pages 585-616, December.
    12. Lawrence Friedman, 1958. "Game-Theory Models in the Allocation of Advertising Expenditures," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 6(5), pages 699-709, October.
    13. Rafael Hortala-Vallve & Aniol Llorente-Saguer, 2012. "Pure strategy Nash equilibria in non-zero sum colonel Blotto games," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 41(2), pages 331-343, May.
    14. Sergiu Hart, 2008. "Discrete Colonel Blotto and General Lotto games," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 36(3), pages 441-460, March.
    15. Dziubiński, Marcin & Goyal, Sanjeev & Minarsch, David E.N., 2021. "The strategy of conquest," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    16. Bettina Klose & Dan Kovenock, 2015. "The all-pay auction with complete information and identity-dependent externalities," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 59(1), pages 1-19, May.
    17. Brian Roberson, 2006. "The Colonel Blotto game," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 29(1), pages 1-24, September.
    18. Scott Macdonell & Nick Mastronardi, 2015. "Waging simple wars: a complete characterization of two-battlefield Blotto equilibria," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 58(1), pages 183-216, January.
    19. repec:lan:wpaper:156630581 is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Renaud Bourlès & Yann Bramoullé & Eduardo Perez‐Richet, 2017. "Altruism in Networks," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 85, pages 675-689, March.
    21. Hiller, Timo, 2017. "Friends and enemies: a model of signed network formation," Theoretical Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 12(3), September.
    22. Bramoulle, Yann & Galeotti, Andrea & Rogers, Brian (ed.), 2016. "The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Networks," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199948277, Decembrie.
    23. Konrad, Kai A., 2009. "Strategy and Dynamics in Contests," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199549603, Decembrie.
    24. Alex Robson, 2005. "Multi-Item Contests," ANU Working Papers in Economics and Econometrics 2005-446, Australian National University, College of Business and Economics, School of Economics.
    25. Roger Myerson & Karl Wärneryd, 2006. "Population uncertainty in contests," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 27(2), pages 469-474, January.
    26. Todd Sandler, 2000. "Economic Analysis of Conflict," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 44(6), pages 723-729, December.
    27. Linster, Bruce G, 1993. "A Generalized Model of Rent-Seeking Behavior," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 77(2), pages 421-435, October.
    28. Caroline Thomas, 2018. "N-dimensional Blotto game with heterogeneous battlefield values," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 65(3), pages 509-544, May.
    29. Franke, Jörg & Öztürk, Tahir, 2015. "Conflict networks," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(C), pages 104-113.
      • Franke, Jörg & Öztürk, Tahir, 2009. "Conflict Networks," Ruhr Economic Papers 116, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    30. Waltz, Kenneth N., 1997. "Evaluating Theories," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 91(4), pages 913-917, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jiao, Qian & Shen, Bo & Sun, Xiang, 2019. "Bipartite conflict networks with returns to scale technology," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 516-531.
    2. Dong, Lu & Huang, Lingbo & Lien, Jaimie W. & Zheng, Jie, 2024. "How alliances form and conflict ensues," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 255-276.
    3. Sebastian Cortes-Corrales & Paul M. Gorny, 2025. "How strength asymmetries shape multi-sided conflicts," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 79(1), pages 235-274, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sebastian Cortes-Corrales & Paul M. Gorny, 2025. "How strength asymmetries shape multi-sided conflicts," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 79(1), pages 235-274, February.
    2. Dziubiński, Marcin & Goyal, Sanjeev & Minarsch, David E.N., 2021. "The strategy of conquest," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    3. Dan Kovenock & Brian Roberson, 2021. "Generalizations of the General Lotto and Colonel Blotto games," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 71(3), pages 997-1032, April.
    4. Zenou, Yves & Xu, Jin & Zhou, Junjie, 2019. "Networks in Conflict: A Variational Inequality Approach," CEPR Discussion Papers 13647, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Ewerhart, Christian & Valkanova, Kremena, 2020. "Fictitious play in networks," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 182-206.
    6. Subhasish M Chowdhury & Dan Kovenock & David Rojo Arjona & Nathaniel T Wilcox, 2021. "Focality and Asymmetry in Multi-Battle Contests," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(636), pages 1593-1619.
    7. Sun, Xiang & Xu, Jin & Zhou, Junjie, 2023. "Effort discrimination and curvature of contest technology in conflict networks," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 978-991.
    8. Zenou, Yves & Bochet, Olivier & Faure, Mathieu & Long, Yan, 2020. "Perceived Competition in Networks," CEPR Discussion Papers 15582, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    9. Kenan Huremović, 2021. "A noncooperative model of contest network formation," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 23(2), pages 275-317, April.
    10. Bochet, Olivier & Faure, Mathieu & Long, Yan & Zenou, Yves, 2020. "Perceived Competition in Networks," CEPR Discussion Papers 15582, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    11. Alexander Matros & David Rietzke, 2024. "Contests on networks," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 78(3), pages 815-841, November.
    12. Xu, Jin & Zenou, Yves & Zhou, Junjie, 2022. "Equilibrium characterization and shock propagation in conflict networks," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 206(C).
    13. Bozbay, Irem & Vesperoni, Alberto, 2018. "A contest success function for networks," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 404-422.
    14. David Rietzke & Brian Roberson, 2013. "The robustness of ‘enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend’ alliances," Social Choice and Welfare, Springer;The Society for Social Choice and Welfare, vol. 40(4), pages 937-956, April.
    15. Duffy, John & Matros, Alexander, 2017. "Stochastic asymmetric Blotto games: An experimental study," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 88-105.
    16. Kimbrough, Erik O. & Laughren, Kevin & Sheremeta, Roman, 2020. "War and conflict in economics: Theories, applications, and recent trends," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 998-1013.
    17. Dan Kovenock & Brian Roberson, 2018. "The Optimal Defense Of Networks Of Targets," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(4), pages 2195-2211, October.
    18. Dan Kovenock & Brian Roberson & Roman M. Sheremeta, 2019. "The attack and defense of weakest-link networks," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 179(3), pages 175-194, June.
    19. Konrad, Kai A., 2007. "Strategy in contests: an introduction [Strategie in Turnieren – eine Einführung]," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Market Processes and Governance SP II 2007-01, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    20. Yosef Rinott & Marco Scarsini & Yaming Yu, 2012. "A Colonel Blotto Gladiator Game," Mathematics of Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 37(4), pages 574-590, November.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Contest; conflict; networks; games on networks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • D74 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances; Revolutions
    • D85 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Network Formation

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:90001. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.