American Economic Journal:
Microeconomics
ISSN 1945-7669 (Print) | ISSN 1945-7685 (Online)
Evolution of Impatience: The Example of the Farmer-Sheriff Game
American Economic Journal: Microeconomics
vol. 7,
no. 3, August 2015
(pp. 295–317)
Abstract
The literature on the evolution of impatience, focusing on one-person decision problems, often finds that evolutionary forces favor the more patient individuals. This paper shows that in games where equilibrium involves threat of punishment there are forces generating an evolutionary advantage to the impatient. In particular, it offers a two-population example where evolutionary forces favor impatience in one group while favoring patience in the other. Moreover, efficiency may also favor impatient individuals. In our example, it is efficient for one population to evolve impatience and for the other to develop patience. Yet, evolutionary forces move the opposite direction. (JEL C73, C78)Citation
Levine, David K., Salvatore Modica, Federico Weinschelbaum, and Felipe Zurita. 2015. "Evolution of Impatience: The Example of the Farmer-Sheriff Game." American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, 7 (3): 295–317. DOI: 10.1257/mic.20130188Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- C73 Stochastic and Dynamic Games; Evolutionary Games; Repeated Games
- C78 Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
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