To trade, or not to trade; that is the question

James Friedman and Peter Hammerstein

A chapter in Game Equilibrium Models I, 1991, pp 257-275 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract The black hamlet is a simultaneous hermaphrodite fish that does not fertilize its own eggs and whose reproductive success is strongly related to the number of eggs of other fish that it fertilizes. Its own eggs are an inducement to other fish to let the fish fertilize their eggs. Consequently, the hamlet engages in egg trading, a mating process in which one fish lets another fertilize its eggs in exchange for allowing it to fertilize the eggs of the other fish. It would be in a fish’s interest if the partner would spawn first allowing the fish to fertilize the eggs of the other fish while keeping its own eggs as a bargaining chip to make the same arrangement with another fish. Such behavior might not be viable in the long run, as the “gullible” fish would suffer low reproduction rates as compared with the “sophisticated, selfish” fish. Eventually, the latter would have only its own sort to deal with, which might even hamper the mating process. In addition, if male fish could participate in such a process, then male specialization might be more profitable than being an hermaphrodite. Instead of the preceding scenario, the hamlets egg trade under circumstances in which it is important to use time well. The egg trading process involves two fish spawing alternately, perhaps five or six times each. As a result the fish that spawns first has little at risk. The process is carried out slowly enough that neither fish has an incentive to “kiss and run.” The purpose of this paper is to model the hamlets’ mating as a game in which their chosen behavior is an equilibrium. We investigate two issues in particular: (1) Is it in the interest of an hermaphrodite fish to behave in a way that sustains the behavior that they follow? (2) If it were possible for hamlets that were specialized as males to deceive hermaphrodites into egg trading, would a population be sustainable in which such males were a significant fraction of the total?

Keywords: Switching Cost; Mating Period; Display State; Male Fish; Female Role (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1991
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-662-02674-8_9

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783662026748

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-662-02674-8_9

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().