Elsevier

Games and Economic Behavior

Volume 34, Issue 2, February 2001, Pages 177-199
Games and Economic Behavior

Regular Article
Minimum-Effort Coordination Games: Stochastic Potential and Logit Equilibrium

https://doi.org/10.1006/game.2000.0800Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper revisits the minimum-effort coordination game with a continuum of Pareto-ranked Nash equilibria. Noise is introduced via a logit probabilistic choice function. The resulting logit equilibrium distribution of decisions is unique and maximizes a stochastic potential function. In the limit as the noise vanishes, the distribution converges to an outcome that is analogous to the risk-dominant outcome for 2 × 2 games. In accordance with experimental evidence, logit equilibrium efforts decrease with increases in effort costs and the number of players, even though these parameters do not affect the Nash equilibria. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C72, C92.

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    This research was funded in part by the National Science Foundation (SBR-9617784 and SBR-9818683). We thank John Bryant and Andy John for helpful discussion, and two referees for their suggestions.

    To whom correspondence should be addressed at Department of Economics, 114 Rouss Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville VA 22903-3328. E-mail: [email protected].

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