(d) Monica’s payoff is 0.5[5(1.6) + 4(1.4) + (1.6)(1.4)] – (1.6)2 = 5.36, while Nancy’s payoff
In the end, Nancy receives more benefit from Monica’s additional training. This is due to the
U11. (a) In a symmetric Nash equilibrium all students submit the same number, so the mean is
identical to each student’s submission. Since the number in question is its own best response, the mean X
must be equal to (2/3) * (X + 9):
(b) For the target number to be 5, it would have to be the case that
That is, the average of the submissions would have to be –1.5. Since all of the submissions are required to
(c) For the target number to be 90, it would have to be the case that
But the average of the submissions can be at most 100, so submitting 90 is dominated, in particular by
(d) From the reasoning in parts (b) and (c), any number less than 6 is a dominated strategy,
and any number greater than 218/3 is also a dominated strategy.
(e) If Elsa believes that none of her classmates will play the dominated strategies in part (d),
then the smallest the class mean could possibly be is 6 and the largest it could possibly be is 218/3.
(f) Iterating the logic of parts (b), (c), (d), and (e) through multiple rounds will whittle the set
Games of Strategy, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2015 W. W. Norton & Company