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Can they beat the Cournot equilibrium? Learning with memory and convergence to equilibria in a Cournot oligopoly

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  • Thomas Vallée

    (LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique - IEMN-IAE Nantes - Institut d'Économie et de Management de Nantes - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - Nantes - UN - Université de Nantes)

  • Murat Yildizoglu

    (GREQAM - Groupement de Recherche en Économie Quantitative d'Aix-Marseille - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

Abstract

This article analyses the possibility of firms learning collusive solutions in a Cournot quantity game. Starting from the results of Vallée and Yildizoglu (2009) and of Alos-Ferrer (2004), we study the role of random experimenting, social learning (imitation), and (updated) memory in helping firms to discover more collusive market configurations than those of the Cournot equilibrium (CE). We show that long memory and its update is necessary to achieve such configurations.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Vallée & Murat Yildizoglu, 2010. "Can they beat the Cournot equilibrium? Learning with memory and convergence to equilibria in a Cournot oligopoly," Working Papers hal-00526258, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-00526258
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-00526258
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Apesteguia, Jose & Huck, Steffen & Oechssler, Jorg, 2007. "Imitation--theory and experimental evidence," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 136(1), pages 217-235, September.
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    7. Alos-Ferrer, Carlos, 2004. "Cournot versus Walras in dynamic oligopolies with memory," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 193-217, February.
    8. Jasmina Arifovic & Michael Maschek, 2006. "Revisiting Individual Evolutionary Learning in the Cobweb Model – An Illustration of the Virtual Spite-Effect," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 28(4), pages 333-354, November.
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    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    Keywords

    Cournot oligopoly; Learning; Evolution; Selection; Evolutionary stability; Nash Equilibrium; Collusion;
    All these keywords.

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