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Publications | The Federmann Center for the Study of Rationality

Publications

1995
Aumann, Robert J. . Rationality And Bounded Rationality. Discussion Papers 1995. Web. Publisher's VersionAbstract
A survey of bounded rationality models and ideas in Game Theory. Topics covered include: The evolutionary approach to optimization – and specifically to game theory – and its implications for the idea of bounded rationality; evolutionary dynamics; "rule rationality" as opposed to "act rationality"; "trembles" and refinements in general; "crazy" perturbations; failure of common knowledge of rationality; limiting average payoff in infinitelyrepeated games; epsilon equilibria; players modeled as computers, finite state automata, or Turing machines; paradoxes (such as Ellsberg or Allais); laboratory experiments; and finally, an open problem.
Maschler, Daniel Granot, and Michael, Howlett. Reactive Bargaining Set: Structure, Dynamics And Extension To Ntu Games, The. Discussion Papers 1995. Web. Publisher's VersionAbstract
The reactive bargaining set (Granot [1994]) is the set of outcomes for which no justified objection exists. Here, in a justified objection the objector first watches how the target tries to act (if he has such an option), and then reacts by making a profit and ruining the target's attempt to maintain his share. In this paper we explore properties of the reactive bargaining set, set up the system of inequalities that defines it, and construct a dynamic system in the sense of Stearn's transfer scheme that leads the players to this set. We also extend the definition of the reactive bargaining set to NTU games in a way that keeps it nonempty. To shed light on its nature and its relative ease of computation, we compute the reactive bargaining set for games that played important role in the game theory literature.
Aumann, Robert J. . Reply To Margalit And Yaari. Discussion Papers 1995. Web. Publisher's VersionAbstract
A reply to Margalit and Yaari's paper "Rationality and Comprehension", in which they comment on my papers "Agreeing to disagree" [1] and "Notes on Interactive Epistemology" [2]. Inter alia, we point out that contrary to Margalit and Yaari's claim, in [1] the agents need not condition on the same events; and in [2], the state space is not assumed as analytic knowledge, but is derived. In addition, a simple resolution of the "hangman's paradox" is offered.
Rosenthal, Vijay Krishna, and Robert W. Simultaneous Auctions With Synergies. Discussion Papers 1995. Web. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Motivated by recent auctions of licenses for the radio-frequency spectrum, we consider situations where multiple objects are auctioned simultaneously by means of a second-price, sealed-bid auction. For some buyers, called global bidders, the value of multiple objects exceeds the sum of objects' values separately. Others, called local bidders, are interested in only one object. In a simple independent private values setting, we (a) characterize an equilibrium that is symmetric among the global bidders; (b) show that the addition of bidders often leads to less aggressive bidding; and (c) compare the revenues obtained from the simultaneous auction to those from its sequential counterpart.
Milchtaich, Igal . Value Of Nonatomic Games Arising From Certain Noncooperative Congestion Games, The. Discussion Papers 1995. Web. Publisher's VersionAbstract
For a class of nonatomic congestion games, two solution concepts, a noncooperative one and a cooperative one, are compared. Each player in the game chooses one of several common facilities. The player's payoff is the difference between the reward and the cost associated with choosing that facility. The rewards are fixed and player-specific. The costs are uniform, but variable: they strictly increase with the measure of the set of players using the facility. The noncooperative solution of the game is the (unique) Nash equilibrium outcome. The cooperative one is the Aumann-Shapley value of the cooperative game that results when players are willing to cooperate in order to minimize the total utility. Using a new result in the theory of values of nonatomic games, we derive a formula for the value. We show that there is exactly one case in which the Nash equilibrium outcome andthe value always coincide: this is the case in which the costs increase logarithmically with the measure of the set of users.
Milchtaich, Igal . Vector Measure Games Based On Measures With Values In An Infinite Dimensional Vector Space. Discussion Papers 1995. Web. Publisher's VersionAbstract
The following generalization of a theorem of Aumann and Shapley is proved: A vector measure game of the form f'$^\circ$%, where % is a nonatomic banach-space measure of bounded variation and f is a weakly continuously differentiable real-valued function defined on the closed convex hull of the range of % such that f(0)=0, is in pNA. If the game is monotonic, then the conclusion holds even if at 0 f is only continuous, and not differentiable. The value of the game is given by the diagonal formula. These results are used for giving a new, relatively short, proof to the result that, under certain conditions, a market game is in pNA.
Maya Bar-Hillel, Efrat Neter . Why Are People Reluctant To Exchange Lottery Tickets?. Discussion Papers 1995. Web. Publisher's VersionAbstract
In a series of experiments, we demonstrate that people are reluctant to exchange lottery tickets. In other words, when given a small incentive to exchange a lottery ticket with which they had just been endowed for a different one, with the same probability of winning the same prize, only about 50% choose to do so. In contrast, when given the same incentive to exchange a pen with which they had just been endowed for another pen just like it, over 90% choose to do so. We discuss – and rule out – a series of possible explanations for this effect, including: distorted subjective probabilities; fear of finding out that you gave up a wining ticket; lack of sufficient incentive (i.e.,transaction cost); general confusion or "paranoia"; etc. We conclude that people will not exchange ex ante identical tokens of the same type unless the two tokens will be identical ex post as well. A lottery ticket with which one has been endowed becomes at once the status quo, or reference point, with respect to which changes are evaluated for possible gains and losses. Since losses loom larger than gains, two lottery tickets which are symmetrical before they pass into one's possession are no longer symmetrical once one of them becomes one's own.
1994
Winter, Dieter Balkenborg, and Eyal. A Necessary And Sufficient Epistemic Condition For Playing Backward Induction. Discussion Papers 1994. Web. Publisher's VersionAbstract
In an epistemic framework due to Aumann we characterize the minimal condition on the rationality of the players that implies backward induction in perfect information games in agent form. This condition requires each player to know that the players are rational at later, but not at previous decision nodes.
Morgan, Vijay Krishna, and John. An Analysis Of The War Of Attrition And The All-Pay Auction. Discussion Papers 1994. Web. Publisher's VersionAbstract
We study the war of attrition and the all-pay auction when players' signals are affiliated and symmetrically distributed. We (a) find sufficient conditions for the existence of symmetric monotonic equilibrium biddingstrategies; and (b) examine the performance of these auction forms in terms of the expected revenue accruing to the seller. Under our conditions the war of attrition raises greater expected revenue than all other known sealed did auction forms.
Neyman, Pradeep Dubey, and Abraham. An Equivalence Principle For Perfectly Competitive Economies. Discussion Papers 1994. Web. Publisher's VersionAbstract
It is a striking fact that different solutions become equivalent in the setting of perfectly competitive economies. We provide an axiomatic approach to this equivalence phenomenon. A solution is viewed as a correspondence which maps each economy to a subset of its individually rational and Pareto-optimal allocations. Four axioms are placed on the correspondence: anonymity, equity, consistency and restricted continuity. It is shown that the axioms categorically determine the Walrasian correspondence. The equivalence of other solutions, such as the core or value allocations, now follows by checkingthat they too satisfy the axioms.
Agastya, Murali . An Evolutionary Bargaining Model (Revision Of Discussion Paper #38). Discussion Papers 1994. Web. Publisher's VersionAbstract
A non-negative function f defined on the class of subsets of a finite set of factors of production describes the production possibilities at each date. The problem of allocating the surplus among the factors is studied in a dynamic learning model. Representatives for the factors (called players) make wage demands naively based on precedent and ignorant of each others' utilities for this good. A global convergence result shows that players learn to reach some (and only a) core allocation in the long run. If players make mistakes however, only a strict subset of the core allocations are likely, i.e., stochastically stable. The main result shows that in the limit, these stable allocations for a particular set of players, converge to the allocation that maximizes the product of all the players' utilities over core allocations.
Aumann, Robert J. . Backward Induction And Common Knowledge Of Rationality. Discussion Papers 1994. Web. Publisher's VersionAbstract
We formulate precisely and prove the proposition that if common knowledge of rationality obtains in a game of perfect information, then the backward induction outcome is reached.
Volij, Nir Dagan, and Oscar. Bilateral Comparisons And Consistent Fair Division Rules In The Context Of Bankruptcy Problems. Discussion Papers 1994: n. pag. Print.Abstract
We analyze the problem of extending a given bilateral principle of justice to a consistent n-creditor bankruptcy rule. Based on the bilateral principle, we build a family of binary relations on the set of creditors in order to make bilateral comparisons between them. We find that the possibility of extending a specific bilateral principle of justice in a consistent way is closely related to the quasi-transitivity of the binary relations mentioned above.
Dagan, Nir . Consistency, Decentralization And The Walrasian Allocations Correspondence. Discussion Papers 1994: n. pag. Print.Abstract
In this paper we study finite-agent exchange economies. We extend the classical model by adding an imports-exports vector, which defines the markets clearing conditions of the economy. Equipped with this new definition, self-consistency properties are naturally defined. We show that the Core correspondence and the Walrasian allocations correspondence are self-consistent. In addition, we present an axiomatic characterization of the Walrasian allocations correspondence for a class of convex and smooth economies. All the axioms presented in the characterization are satisfied by the Core, except for a converse-consistency property, which can be interpreted as a requirement of decentralization.
Ezra Einy, Ron Holzman, and Benyamin Shitovitz. Core And Stable Sets Of Large Games Arising In Economics. Discussion Papers 1994. Web. Publisher's VersionAbstract
It is shown that the core of a non-atomic glove-market game which is defined as the minimum of finitely many non-atomic probability measures is a von-Neumann Morgenstern stable set. This result is used to characterize some stable set of large games which have a decreasing returns to scale property. We also study exact non-atomic glove-market games. In particular we show that in a glove-market game which consists of the minimum of finitely many mutually singular non-atomic measures, the core is a von-Neumann Morgenstern stable set if the game is exact. We also discuss the intuitive appeal of the equivalence of the core and stable set. We do this by employing the theory of social situations [5] and highlighting the negotiation processes that underlie these two notions.
Gary Bornstein, Ido Erev, and Harel Goren. Effect Of Repeated Play In The Ipg And Ipd Team Games, The. Discussion Papers 1994. Web. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Repeated interaction in intergroup conflict was studied in the context of two team games: The Intergroup Public Goods (IPG) game and the Intergroup Prisoner's Dilemma (IPD) game. The results reveal (a) a main effect for game type; subjects were twice as likely to contribute towards their group effort in the IPG game than in the IPD game, and (b) a game-type X time interaction; subjects contributed less over time in the IPD game while continuing to contribute at about the same rate in the IPG game. The second finding supports the hypothesis that subjects learn the structure of the game and adapt their behavior accordingly, and is compatible with a simple learning model (Roth & Erev, 1993) which assumes that choices that have led to good outcomes in the past are more likely to be repeated in the future. A reciprocal cooperation hypothesis which assumes that players make their choices contingent on the earlier choices of the other players received little support.
Brandenburger, Robert J. Aumann, and Adam, Ori et al. Epistemic Conditions For Nash Equilibrium. Discussion Papers 1994. Web. Publisher's VersionAbstract
Sufficient conditions for Nash equilibrium in an n-person game are given in terms of what the players know and believe - about the game, and about each other's rationality, actions, knowledge, and beliefs. Mixed strategies are treated not as conscious randomizations, but as conjectures, on the part of other players, as to what a player will do. Common knowledge plays a smaller role in characterizing Nash equilibrium than had been supposed. When n = 2, mutual knowledge of the payoff functions, of rationality, and of the conjectures implies that the conjectures form a Nash equilibrium. When n % 3 and there is a common prior, mutual knowledge of the payoff functions and of rationality, and common knowledge of the conjectures, imply that the conjectures form a Nash equilibrium. Examples show the results to be tight.
Margalit, Avishai . Ethics Of Second-Order Beliefs, The. Discussion Papers 1994. Web. Publisher's VersionAbstract
The questions I address my paper are: Are people morally responsible for their beliefs? Are people's beliefs voluntary - can they be chosen and decided upon? What is the nature of the analogy between obligation of belief and the obligation of have certain emotions and not others? Can the skeptic suspend his belief? And finally, what is the sin of the heretic? I argue that it is right and proper for belief to be evaluated morally even if they are not voluntary and therefore not under our control. The key to my view is the fact that human beings possess second-order as well as first-order beliefs.
Feinberg, Yossi . Evolutionary Selection Of An Equilibrium. Discussion Papers 1994: n. pag. Print.Abstract
We analyze the long-run behavior of a population engaged in a 2x2 evolutionary game undergoing mutation effects. We assume that the rates of mutation are exogenously and randomly determined. It is shown that if high mutation rates are possible but highly improbable, then the population evolves towards the risk dominant equilibrium (Harsanyi and Selten, 1988).
Ma, Jinpeng . Infinitely Repeated Rental Model With Incomplete Information. Discussion Papers 1994. Web. Publisher's VersionAbstract
In an infinitely repeated rental model with two types of buyer and no discounting, the set of all Nash equilibrium payoffs for the seller and the buyer is characterized.