ICES Experimental Economics Brown Bag Lecture
Optimal Search in Multi-period Public Goods Games
Friday, April 25, 2025 4:00 PM to 5:00 PM EDT
Vernon Smith Hall (formerly Metropolitan Building), Room 5075
The Interdisciplinary Center for Economic Science (ICES) presents an ICES Brown Bag Lecture featuring:
George Mason University
Optimal Search in Multi-period Public Goods Games
Abstract
A common observation in public goods games is that when the game restarts, many individuals revert to high contributions again in the first round of the new period — a phenomenon known as the restart effect. In this paper, we develop a mechanism based on optimal search theory to explain individuals' behavior across different game periods in public goods games, and we design an experiment with different treatment conditions to test it: one varying the cost structure and another varying the type of opponents, which are computerized agents. We expect that individuals in different treatments will exhibit distinct strategic paths and restart effects. Our approach offers a novel explanation for the restarted effect and helps resolve the debate surrounding the contradictory findings of the confusion factors. We also introduce a new perspective on learning processes across game periods, particularly at the individual level.
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