LEARNING A MIXED STRATEGY EQUILIBRIUM IN THE LABORATORY

This paper examines a laboratory game with no pure strategy equilibriu m, and one mixed strategy equilibrium. A simple adaptive model describ es players' strategy adjustments reasonably well, as long as predictab le adjustments are not easily exploited by others. Consistent with the ory, these adjustments do not lead players to equilibrium. When predic table adjustments are made more easily exploited, players deviate from adaptive adjustments in order to avoid exploitation and exploit other s. These deviations cause players to converge more strongly to equilib rium. These results confirm both the predictive power of adaptive mode ls in some settings, and the instability of mixed strategy equilibria.