The impact of naïve advice and observational learning in beauty-contest games

Authors
Publication date 2007
Series Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper, 07-015
Number of pages 32
Publisher Amsterdam: Faculteit Economie en Bedrijfskunde
Organisations
  • Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) - Amsterdam School of Economics Research Institute (ASE-RI)
Abstract We study the impact of advice or observation on the depth of reasoning in an experimental beauty-contest game. Both sources of information trigger faster convergence to the equilibrium. Yet, we find that subjects who receive naïve advice outperform uninformed subjects ermanently, whereas subjects who observe others’ past behavior before making their decision do only have a temporary advantage over uninformed subjects. We show in a simulation that the latter result is due to subjects failing to make the most out of observing others.
Document type Working paper
Published at http://www.tinbergen.nl/discussionpapers/07015.pdf
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