AN EVOLUTIONARY INTERPRETATION OF VANHUYCK, BATTALIO, AND BEIL EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS ON COORDINATION

This paper proposes an adaptive interpretation of the results of some recent experiments with repeated tacit coordination games. These experiments revealed several behavioral regularities, including a systematic discrimination between strict Nash equilibria in certain games, that appear to be driven by strategic uncertainty, and are not explained by traditional equilibrium refinements. The observed patterns of discrimination correspond closely to predictions based on Maynard Smith's notion of evolutionary stability. An adaptive model, in the spirit of the evolutionary dynamics but recognizing the important differences between learning in human populations and evolution, promises to yield a unified explanation of the results. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: 020, 026. © 1991.