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Evolution of Strategies in Repeated Games with Discounting

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  • Matthijs van Veelen

    (Universiteit van Amsterdam)

Abstract

In repeated games there is in general a large set of equilibria. We also know that in the repeated prisoners dilemma there is a profusion of neutrally stable strategies, but no strategy that is evolutionarily stable. This paper investigates whether and how neutrally stable strategies can be upset in a process of mutation and selection. While neutral stability excludes that mutants have a selective advantage themselves, it does not rule out the possibility that mutants that are neutral can enter a population and create a selective advantage for a second mutant. This will be called an indirect invasion and the central results show that, for high enough continuation probability, there is no strategy that is robust against indirect invasions. Such stepping stone paths out of equilibrium generally exist both in the direction of more and in the direction of less cooperation.

Suggested Citation

  • Matthijs van Veelen, 2007. "Evolution of Strategies in Repeated Games with Discounting," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 06-115/1, Tinbergen Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20060115
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Matthijs van Veelen, 2020. "The evolution of morality," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-063/I, Tinbergen Institute.
    2. Matthijs van Veelen & Benjamin Allen & Moshe Hoffman & Burton Simon & Carl Veller, 2016. "Inclusive Fitness," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 16-055/I, Tinbergen Institute.
    3. Matthijs van Veelen, 2010. "But Some Neutrally Stable Strategies are More Neutrally Stable than Others," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 10-033/1, Tinbergen Institute.
    4. Shun Kurokawa & Joe Yuichiro Wakano & Yasuo Ihara, 2018. "Evolution of Groupwise Cooperation: Generosity, Paradoxical Behavior, and Non-Linear Payoff Functions," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(4), pages 1-24, December.
    5. van Veelen, Matthijs & García, Julián, 2019. "In and out of equilibrium II: Evolution in repeated games with discounting and complexity costs," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 113-130.
    6. Saral, Ali Seyhun, 2020. "Evolution of Conditional Cooperation in Prisoner's Dilemma," OSF Preprints wcpkz, Center for Open Science.
    7. Izquierdo, Luis R. & Izquierdo, Segismundo S. & Sandholm, William H., 2019. "An introduction to ABED: Agent-based simulation of evolutionary game dynamics," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 434-462.
    8. Jonathan Newton, 2018. "Evolutionary Game Theory: A Renaissance," Games, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-67, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Repeated games; evolutionary stability; robust against indirect invasions.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C73 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games

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