The refined best-response correspondence in normal form games

Dieter Balkenborg, Josef Hofbauer and Christoph Kuzmics

No 466, Center for Mathematical Economics Working Papers from Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University

Abstract: This paper provides an in-depth study of the (most) refined best reply correspondence introduced by Balkenborg, Hofbauer, and Kuzmics (2012). An example demonstrates that this correspondence can be very different from the standard best reply correspondence. In two-player games, however, the refined best reply correspondence of a given game is the same as the best reply correspondence of a slightly modified game. The modified game is derived from the original game by reducing the payoff by a small amount for all pure strategies that are weakly inferior. Weakly inferior strategies, for two-player games, are pure strategies that are either weakly dominated or are equivalent to a proper mixture of other pure strategies. Fixed points of the refined best reply correspondence are not equivalent to any known Nash equilibrium refinement. A class of simple communication games demonstrates the usefulness and intuitive appeal of the refined best reply correspondence.

Keywords: strict and weak dominance; strategic stability; Nash equilibrium refi nements; best-response correspondence; persistent equilibria (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 21
Date: 2014-04-15
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gth and nep-mic
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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https://pub.uni-bielefeld.de/download/2671737/2671738 First Version, 2012 (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: The refined best-response correspondence in normal form games (2015)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bie:wpaper:466

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