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Repetition, Communication, and Coordination Failure

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Gregory M. Parkhurst ,
Jason F. Shogren  and
Chris Bastian
Gregory M. Parkhurst*
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural Economics, Mississipi State University, Mississippi State, MS, 39762-5187, USA
Jason F. Shogren
Affiliation:
Department of Economics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY, 82071-3985, USA
Chris Bastian
Affiliation:
Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 80271-3354, USA
*
email: parkhurst@agecon.msstate.edu
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Abstract

We examine repetition as an institution that affects coordination failure in a game with and without pre-play communication. We use probit regression with random effects to test hypotheses regarding the frequency and form of coordination failure in the presence of repeated play versus one-shot games. Our results indicate that repetition without pre-play communication results in a lower frequency of coordination failure relative to one-shot game outcomes. This result is reversed when pre-play communication is allowed. Our evidence also suggests that repeated play coordination failures tend to be suboptimal Nash equilibria, whereas one-shot game coordination failures are disequilibria regardless of the presence of pre-play communication.

Keywords

coordination failurecommunicationrepetitioncoordination games

JEL classification

C71: Cooperative Games C92: Laboratory, Group Behavior

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Experimental Economics , Volume 7 , Issue 2 , June 2004 , pp. 141 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © 2004 Economic Science Association

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