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Friends or Strangers? Strategic Uncertainty and Coordination across Experimental Games of Strategic Complements and Substitutes

Author

Listed:
  • Gabriele Chierchia

    (Center for Mind/Brain Science, University of Trento, and Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences)

  • Fabio Tufano

    (School of Economics, University of Nottingham)

  • Giorgio Coricelli

    (Center for Mind/Brain Science, University of Trento, and Department of Economics, University of Southern California)

Abstract
It is commonly assumed that friendship should generally benefit agents' ability to tacitly coordinate with others. However, this has never been tested on two 'opposite poles' of coordination, namely, games of strategic complements and substitutes. We present an experimental study in which participants interact with either a friend or a stranger in two classic games: the stag hunt game, which exhibits strategic complementarity, and the entry game, which exhibits strategic substitutability. Both games capture a frequent trade-off between a potentially high paying but uncertain action and a lower paying but safe alternative. We find that, relative to strangers, friends exhibit a propensity towards uncertainty in the stag hunt game, but an aversion to uncertainty in the entry game. Friends also "tremble" less than strangers, coordinate better and earn more in the stag hunt game but these advantages are largely decreased, and almost entirely lost in the entry game. Friendship thus appears to have a very different impact on coordination games involving strategic complements and substitutes. We further investigate the role of interpersonal similarities and friendship qualities in this differential impact.

Suggested Citation

  • Gabriele Chierchia & Fabio Tufano & Giorgio Coricelli, 2018. "Friends or Strangers? Strategic Uncertainty and Coordination across Experimental Games of Strategic Complements and Substitutes," Discussion Papers 2018-01, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    • Handle: RePEc:not:notcdx:2018-01
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Keywords

    coordination; entry game; friendship; strategic complementarity; strategic substitutability; stag hunt game; strategic uncertainty;
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