An experimental investigation of Colonel Blotto games

Eine experimentelle Untersuchung von „Colonel Blotto“-Spielen

Subhasish Chowdhury, Dan Kovenock and Roman M. Sheremeta

Discussion Papers, Research Unit: Market Processes and Governance from WZB Berlin Social Science Center

Abstract: This article examines behavior in the two-player, constant-sum Colonel Blotto game with asymmetric resources in which players maximize the expected number of battlefields won. The experimental results support all major theoretical predictions. In the auction treatment, where winning a battlefield is deterministic, disadvantaged players use a “guerilla warfare” strategy which stochastically allocates zero resources to a subset of battlefields. Advantaged players employ a “stochastic complete coverage” strategy, allocating random, but positive, resource levels across the battlefields. In the lottery treatment, where winning a battlefield is probabilistic, both players divide their resources equally across all battlefields.

Keywords: Colonel Blotto; conflict resolution; contest theory; multi-dimensional; resource allocation; rent-seeking; experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C72 C91 D72 D74 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2009
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (25)

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https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/51103/1/614782120.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: An experimental investigation of Colonel Blotto games (2013)
Working Paper: An Experimental Investigation of Colonel Blotto Games (2011)
Working Paper: An Experimental Investigation of Colonel Blotto Games (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:wzbmpg:spii200908

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