Classroom Games: A Prisoner's Dilemma

Charles Holt and C. Monica Capra

Virginia Economics Online Papers from University of Virginia, Department of Economics

Abstract: Game theory is often introduced in undergraduate courses in the context of a prisoner's dilemma paradigm, which illustrates the conflict between social incentives to cooperate and private incentives to defect. We present a very simple card game that efficiently involves a large number of students in a prisoner's dilemma. The extent of cooperation is affected by the payoff incentives and by the nature of repeated interaction. The exercise can be used to stimulate a discussion of a wide range of topics such as bankruptcy, quality standards, or price competition.

Keywords: prisoner's dilemma; game theory; experimental economics; classroom experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C72 C92 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 12 pages
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cdm, nep-evo, nep-exp, nep-gth, nep-ind and nep-pub
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Classroom Games: A Prisoner's Dilemma (2000)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:vir:virpap:330

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