Stochastic uncoupled dynamics and Nash equilibrium

Sergiu Hart*, Andreu Mas-Colell

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

72 Scopus citations

Abstract

In this paper we consider dynamic processes, in repeated games, that are subject to the natural informational restriction of uncoupledness. We study the almost sure convergence of play (the period-by-period behavior as well as the long-run frequency) to Nash equilibria of the one-shot stage game, and present a number of possibility and impossibility results. Basically, we show that if in addition to random experimentation some recall, or memory, is introduced, then successful search procedures that are uncoupled can be devised. In particular, to get almost sure convergence to pure Nash equilibria when these exist, it suffices to recall the last two periods of play.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)286-303
Number of pages18
JournalGames and Economic Behavior
Volume57
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 2006

Keywords

  • Exhaustive experimentation
  • Finite automaton
  • Finite memory
  • Finite recall
  • Nash equilibrium
  • Stochastic dynamics
  • Uncoupled

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