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Strategy choice in the infinitely repeated prisoners' dilemma

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  • Dal Bó, Pedro
  • Fréchette, Guillaume R.

Abstract

We use a novel experimental design to identify the subjects' strategies in an infinitely repeated prisoners' dilemma experiment. We ask subjects to design strategies that will play in their place. We find that eliciting strategies has negligible effects on their behavior, supporting the validity of this method. We find the chosen strategies include some common ones such as Tit-For-Tat and Grim trigger. However, other strategies that are considered to have desirable properties, such as Win-Stay-Lose-Shift, are not prevalent. We also find that the strategies used to support cooperation change with the parameters of the game. Finally, our results confirm that long-run miscoordination can arise.

Suggested Citation

  • Dal Bó, Pedro & Fréchette, Guillaume R., 2013. "Strategy choice in the infinitely repeated prisoners' dilemma," Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Economics of Change SP II 2013-311, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:wzbeoc:spii2013311
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    infinitely repeated games; prisoner's dilemma; cooperation; strategies; experimental economics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games
    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior

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