Do Multiple Contacts Matter?

In this experimental article, the author examines the impact of multiple contacts on collusive behavior in various strategic settings. Despite the theoretical incentive to collude increasing when agents interact in multiple settings, the study found no significant increase in collusion in symmetric or asymmetric environments. However, the experiment did observe that in asymmetric payoffs, defection in one game led to a higher probability of future punishment in the other game under multiple contacts. Additionally, the author modified popular strategies to condition on history observed in multiple strategic settings and found that subjects use these modified strategies in the asymmetric environment