ON THE ORIGIN OF CONVENTION - EVIDENCE FROM SYMMETRICAL BARGAINING GAMES

We use a dynamical systems approach to model the origin of bargaining conventions and report the results of a symmetric bargaining game expe riment. Our experiment also provides evidence on the psychological sal ience of symmetry and efficiency. The observed behavior in the experim ent was systematic, replicable, and roughly consistent with the dynami cal systems approach. For instance, we do observe unequal-division con ventions emerging in communities of symmetrically endowed subjects.