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The structure of Nash equilibria in Poisson games

Author

Listed:
  • Claudia Meroni

    (Department of Economics (University of Verona))

  • Carlos Pimienta

    (School of Economics, The University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia)

Abstract

In finite games, the graph of the Nash equilibrium correspondence is a semialgebraic set (i.e. it is defined by finitely many polynomial inequal- ities). This fact implies many game theoretical results about the structure of equilibria. We show that many of these results can be readily exported to Poisson games even if the expected utility functions are not polynomials. We do this proving that, in Poisson games, the graph of the Nash equilibrium correspondence is a globaly subanalytic set. Many of the properties of semialgebraic sets follow from a set of axioms that the collection of globaly subanalytic sets also satisfy. Hence, we easily show that every Poisson game has finitely many connected components and that at least one of them contains a stable set of equilibria. By the same reasoning, we also show how generic determinacy results in finite games can be extended to Poisson games.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudia Meroni & Carlos Pimienta, 2015. "The structure of Nash equilibria in Poisson games," Working Papers 25/2015, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
  • Handle: RePEc:ver:wpaper:25/2015
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    3. De Sinopoli, Francesco & Ferraris, Leo & Meroni, Claudia, 2024. "Poisson Search," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    4. Gersbach, Hans & Mamageishvili, Akaki & Tejada, Oriol, 2019. "The Effect of Handicaps on Turnout for Large Electorates: An Application to Assessment Voting," CEPR Discussion Papers 13921, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    5. Gersbach, Hans & Mamageishvili, Akaki & Tejada, Oriol, 2021. "The effect of handicaps on turnout for large electorates with an application to assessment voting," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Poisson games; voting; stable sets; o-minimal structures; globaly subanalytic sets.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C70 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - General
    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games

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