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Trust on the brink of Armageddon: The first-strike game

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  • Abbink, Klaus
  • de Haan, Thomas

Abstract

We introduce the experimental first-strike game. Two players accumulate earnings over many rounds. In any round a player can deactivate the opponent. This means that the opponent loses all earnings and faces severely reduced future payoffs. It also means that the opponent can no longer deactivate the aggressor in later rounds. Thus deactivation is a hostile act, but can serve as a self-protection device. We run four treatments to disentangle the effect of spite, fear of spite, and trust. We find the absence of pure nastiness, but nevertheless a strong fear of it. Mutual trust can considerably reduce hostility.

Suggested Citation

  • Abbink, Klaus & de Haan, Thomas, 2014. "Trust on the brink of Armageddon: The first-strike game," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 190-196.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:eecrev:v:67:y:2014:i:c:p:190-196
    DOI: 10.1016/j.euroecorev.2014.01.009
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    Cited by:

    1. De Luca, Giacomo & Sekeris, Petros G. & Spengler, Dominic E., 2018. "Can violence harm cooperation? Experimental evidence," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 90(C), pages 342-359.
    2. Klaus Abbink & Lu Dong & Lingbo Huang, 2021. "Arms Races and Conflict: Experimental Evidence," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(637), pages 1883-1904.
    3. Lacomba, Juan A. & Lagos, Francisco & Reuben, Ernesto & van Winden, Frans, 2014. "On the escalation and de-escalation of conflict," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 40-57.
    4. Sanjaya, Muhammad Ryan, 2023. "Antisocial behavior in experiments: What have we learned from the past two decades?," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 104-115.
    5. Alexandros Karakostas & Nhu Tran & Daniel John Zizzo, 2022. "Experimental Insights on Anti-Social Behavior: Two Meta-Analyses," Discussion Papers Series 658, School of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
    6. Jauernig, Johanna & Uhl, Matthias, 2019. "Spite and preemptive retaliation after tournaments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 328-336.
    7. Minson, Julia A. & Bendersky, Corinne & de Dreu, Carsten & Halperin, Eran & Schroeder, Juliana, 2023. "Experimental studies of conflict: Challenges, solutions, and advice to junior scholars," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    8. Böhm, Robert & Rusch, Hannes & Gürerk, Özgür, 2015. "What Makes People Go to War? Defensive Intentions Motivate Retaliatory and Preemptive Intergroup Aggression," MPRA Paper 64373, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. Abbink, Klaus & Doğan, Gönül, 2019. "How to choose your victim," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 482-496.

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