Masiliunas, A. (2023) Learning in rent-seeking contests with payoff risk and foregone payoff Information. Working Paper. Sheffield Economic Research Paper Series, 2023002 (2023002). Department of Economics, University of Sheffield ISSN 1749-8368
Abstract
We test whether deviations from Nash equilibrium in rent-seeking contests can be explained by the slow convergence of payoff-based learning. We identify and eliminate two noise sources that slow down learning: first, opponents are changing their actions across rounds; second, payoffs are probabilistic, which reduces the correlation between expected and realized payoffs. We find that average choices are not significantly different from the risk-neutral Nash equilibrium predictions only when both noise sources are eliminated by supplying foregone payoff information and removing payoff risk. Payoff-based learning can explain these results better than alternative theories. We propose a hybrid learning model that combines reinforcement and belief learning with risk, social and other preferences, and show that it fits data well, mostly because of reinforcement learning.
Metadata
Item Type: | Monograph |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2023 The Author(s). For reuse permissions, please contact the Author(s). |
Keywords: | experiment; contests; reinforcement learning; foregone payoffs; payoff risk; Nash equilibrium |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Economics (Sheffield) > Sheffield Economics Research Papers Series The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Department of Economics (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 25 Jan 2023 14:53 |
Last Modified: | 26 Jan 2023 03:08 |
Published Version: | https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/economics/research/ser... |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Department of Economics, University of Sheffield |
Series Name: | Sheffield Economic Research Paper Series |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:195662 |