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Rationalizability in general situations

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  • Yi-Chun Chen
  • Xiao Luo
  • Chen Qu

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to present an analytical framework that can be used to study rationalizable strategic behavior in general situations—i.e., arbitrary strategic games with various modes of behavior. We show that, under mild conditions, the notion of rationalizability defined in general situations has nice properties similar to those in finite games. The major features of this paper are (1) our approach does not require any kind of technical assumptions on the structure of the game, and (2) the analytical framework provides a unified treatment of players’ general preferences, including expected utility as a special case. In this paper, we also investigate the relationship between rationalizability and Nash equilibrium in general games. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016

Suggested Citation

  • Yi-Chun Chen & Xiao Luo & Chen Qu, 2016. "Rationalizability in general situations," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 61(1), pages 147-167, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:joecth:v:61:y:2016:i:1:p:147-167
    DOI: 10.1007/s00199-015-0882-y
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    2. Hsieh, Yue-Da & Qian, Xuewen & Qu, Chen, 2023. "Iterated bounded dominance," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 232(C).
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Strategic games; General preferences; Rationalizability; Common knowledge of rationality; Nash equilibrium; C70; D81;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C70 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - General
    • D81 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Criteria for Decision-Making under Risk and Uncertainty

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