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Edgar Allan Poe's riddle: Framing effects in repeated matching pennies games

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  • Eliaz, Kfir
  • Rubinstein, Ariel

Abstract

Framing effects have a significant influence on the finitely repeated matching pennies game. The combination of being labelled "a guesser," and having the objective of matching the opponent's action, appears to be advantageous. We find that being a player who aims to match the opponent's action is advantageous irrespective of whether the player moves first or second. We examine alternative explanations for our results and relate them to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Purloined Letter." We propose a behavioral model which generates the observed asymmetry in the players' performance.

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  • Eliaz, Kfir & Rubinstein, Ariel, 2011. "Edgar Allan Poe's riddle: Framing effects in repeated matching pennies games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 71(1), pages 88-99, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:gamebe:v:71:y:2011:i:1:p:88-99
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Pierre Courtois & Tarik Tazdaït, 2021. "Jacques Lacan and game theory: an early contribution to common knowledge reasoning," The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(5), pages 844-869, September.
    3. Penczynski, Stefan P., 2016. "Strategic thinking: The influence of the game," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 72-84.
    4. Hatime KAMÝLÇELEBÝ & Emre ÜNAL, 2014. "Analyzing Framing Effecty by an Experiment among Students in Turkey," Journal of Economic and Social Thought, KSP Journals, vol. 1(1), pages 27-31, December.
    5. Irenaeus Wolff, 2017. "Lucky Numbers in Simple Games," TWI Research Paper Series 107, Thurgauer Wirtschaftsinstitut, Universität Konstanz.
    6. Irenaeus Wolff, 2023. "Heuristic Centered-Belief Players," TWI Research Paper Series 128, Thurgauer Wirtschaftsinstitut, Universität Konstanz.
    7. Kamilçelebi, Hatime & Ünal, Emre, 2014. "Analyzing Framing Effecty by an Experiment among Students in Turkey," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 1(1), pages 27-31..
    8. Daniel Read, 2020. "The five games of Mr Edgar Allan Poe: A study of strategic thought in ‘The Purloined Letter’," Rationality and Society, , vol. 32(4), pages 369-401, November.

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