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Three Minimal Market Institutions with Human and Algorithmic Agents: Theory and Experimental Evidence

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Abstract

We define and examine three minimal market games (sell-all, buy-sell, and double auction) in the laboratory relative to the predictions of theory. These closed exchange economies have some cash to facilitate transactions, and include feedback. The experiment reveals that (1) the competitive general equilibrium (CGE) and non-cooperative (NCE) models are reasonable anchors to locate most but not all the observed outcomes of the three market mechanisms; (2) outcomes tend to get closer to CGE predictions as the number of players increases; (3) prices and allocations in double auctions deviate persistently from CGE predictions; (4) the outcome paths across the three market mechanisms differ significantly and persistently; (5) importance of market structures for outcomes is reinforced by algorithmic trader simulations; and (6) none of the three markets dominates the others across six measures of performance. Inclusion of some mechanism differences into theory may enhance our understanding of important aspects of markets.

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  • Juergen Huber & Martin Shubik & Shyam Sunder, 2007. "Three Minimal Market Institutions with Human and Algorithmic Agents: Theory and Experimental Evidence," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1623R, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Jan 2010.
    • Handle: RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:1623r
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    Cited by:

    1. Juergen Huber & Martin Shubik & Shyam Sunder, 2008. "The Value of Fiat Money with an Outside Bank: An Experimental Game," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1675, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University, revised Apr 2010.
    2. Barreda-Tarrazona, Iván & García-Gallego, Aurora & Georgantzís, Nikolaos & Ziros, Nicholas, 2018. "Market games as social dilemmas," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 435-444.
    3. Karim Jamal & Michael Maier & Shyam Sunder, 2017. "Simple Agents, Intelligent Markets," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 49(4), pages 653-675, April.
    4. Huber, Jürgen & Shubik, Martin & Sunder, Shyam, 2014. "Sufficiency of an outside bank and a default penalty to support the value of fiat money: Experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 317-337.
    5. Dimitrios Xefteris & Nicholas Ziros, 2017. "Strategic Vote Trading in Power Sharing Systems," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 9(2), pages 76-94, May.
    6. Martin Shubik, 2010. "Innovation and Equilibrium?," Chapters, in: Dimitri B. Papadimitriou & L. Randall Wray (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Hyman Minsky, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Huber, Juergen & Shubik, Martin & Sunder, Shyam, 2016. "Default penalty as a selection mechanism among multiple equilibria," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 9(C), pages 20-38.
    8. Lode Li & Martin Shubik & Matthew J. Sobel, 2013. "Control of Dividends, Capital Subscriptions, and Physical Inventories," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 59(5), pages 1107-1124, May.
    9. Shyam Sunder, 2020. "Rational order from ‘irrational’ actions," Mind & Society: Cognitive Studies in Economics and Social Sciences, Springer;Fondazione Rosselli, vol. 19(2), pages 317-321, November.
    10. Shubik, Martin & Sudderth, William D., 2015. "From General Equilibrium to Schumpeter," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 269-282.
    11. Huber, Juergen & Shubik, Martin & Sunder, Shyam, 2018. "Financing of public goods through taxation in a general equilibrium economy: Experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 148(C), pages 171-188.
    12. Dmitry Levando, 2012. "A Survey Of Strategic Market Games," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 57(194), pages 63-106, July - Se.
    13. Mousavi, Shabnam & Sunder, Shyam, 2023. "Physics, Biology and Human Faculties: A Structural Stepwise Approach to Modeling Human Behavior," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 212(C), pages 311-321.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Strategic market games; Laboratory experiments; Minimally intelligent agents; Adaptive learning agents; General equilibrium;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C92 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Group Behavior
    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • D51 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Exchange and Production Economies
    • D58 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Computable and Other Applied General Equilibrium Models
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

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