Date and Location: Monday, September 12, 12:00, A 0.23
Presenter:
Christian W. Bach

Title:
Common Belief in Utility Proportional Beliefs
Authors:
Christian W. Bach & Andrés Perea (KE / EpiCenter + KE)

Abstract: In game theory, rationalizability is one of the most basic solution concepts. However, experimental findings suggest that people often do not reason in line with these very basic notions. This fact is possibly due to the requirement that zero probability be assigned to non-optimal choices in these concepts. Here, we introduce the epistemic notion of common belief in utility proportional beliefs which also assigns positive probability to non-optimal choices, restricted however by the natural postulate that the probabilities should be proportional to the utilities the respective choices generate. With regards to experimental findings common belief in utility proportional beliefs fares surprisingly well in explaining observed behaviour. Moreover, we propose an algorithmic characterization of our epistemic concept.