Payoff inequity reduces the effectiveness of correlated-equilibrium recommendations


Anbarcı N., Feltovich N., GÜRDAL M. Y.

European Economic Review, cilt.108, ss.172-190, 2018 (SSCI, Scopus)

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 108
  • Basım Tarihi: 2018
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2018.07.003
  • Dergi Adı: European Economic Review
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.172-190
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Correlated equilibrium, Inequity, Level-k reasoning, Other-regarding behaviour, Recommendations
  • Boğaziçi Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

We examine theoretically and experimentally how individuals’ willingness to follow third-party recommendations in 2 × 2 games is affected by payoff asymmetry. We consider six versions of Battle-of-the-Sexes. Recommendations imply monetary payoffs that are equal ex ante, but unequal ex post. So, although following recommendations constitutes a Nash equilibrium under standard preferences, sufficiently inequity-averse players can rationally disobey a recommendation that would lead to a very unfavourable payoff distribution, as long as the cost of doing so is not too large. Our theoretical model incorporates inequity aversion, along with level-k reasoning. Our main experimental result is consistent with the model: as either payoff asymmetry increases or the cost of disobeying an unfavourable recommendation decreases, subjects are more likely to disobey recommendations.