It is well known that the rock-paper-scissors game has no pure saddle point. We show that this holds more generally: A symmetric two-player zero-sum game has a pure saddle point if and only if it is not a generalized rock-paper-scissors game. Moreover, we show that every finite symmetric...

We show that for many classes of symmetric two-player games, the simple decision rule "imitate-the-best" can hardly be beaten by any other decision rule. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions for imitation to be unbeatable in the sense that, even against a very clever opponent,...

It is well known that the rock-paper-scissors game has no pure saddle point. We show that this holds more generally: A symmetric two-player zero-sum game has a pure saddle point if and only if it is not a generalized rock-paper-scissors game. Moreover, we show that every finite symmetric...

We observe that a symmetric two-player zero-sum game has a pure strategy equilibrium if and only if it is not a generalized rock-paper-scissors matrix. Moreover, we show that every finite symmetric quasiconcave two-player zero-sum game has a pure equilibrium. Further sufficient conditions for...

A risky skill game is a game in which skill plays an important role but outcomes are also strongly influenced by random factors. Examples are poker or blackjack but also many economic activities like trading on financial markets. In an online experiment we let subjects choose how often they want...

Sick pay is a common provision in most labor contracts. This paperemploys an experimental gift-exchange environment to explore two relatedquestions using both managers and undergraduates as subjects.First, do workers reciprocate generous sick pay with higher effort? Second,do firms benefit from...

Bubbles in asset markets have been documented in numerous experimentalstudies. However, all experiments in which bubbles occurpay dividends after each trading day. In this paper we study whetherbubbles can occur in markets without dividends. We investigate therole of two features that are...

In John Nash’s proofs for the existence of (Nash) equilibria basedon Brouwer’s theorem, an iteration mapping is used. A continuous—time analogue of the same mapping has been studied even earlier byBrown and von Neumann. This differential equation has recently beensuggested as a plausible...

We introduce a generalized theoretical approach to study imitation andsubject it to rigorous experimental testing. In our theoretical analysiswe …nd that the different predictions of previous imitation models aredue to different informational assumptions, not to different behavioralrules. It is...