Some Problems With Judging Rationality Cover Image

Some Problems With Judging Rationality
Some Problems With Judging Rationality

Author(s): Piotr Swistak
Subject(s): Economy
Published by: Akademia Leona Koźmińskiego
Keywords: Game Theory; rationality; behavioral game theory; ultimatum game

Summary/Abstract: The gap between game-theoretic predictions and actual choices people make in, for instance, gaming experiments has been over-interpreted as evidence against rationality of players. I consider a version of the ultimatum game and examine its equilibria under different assumptions about players’ preferences. Using standard notions of rationality I show that the discrepancy between the “normative” and the “descriptive” cannot be established by a simple comparison of what is predicted by the equilibrium choices and the actual choices people make.

  • Issue Year: 2015
  • Issue No: 23
  • Page Range: 2-22
  • Page Count: 18