CMI Working Paper
| 2004
What constitutes a convention? Implications for the coexistence of conventions
Bergen: Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI Working Paper WP 2004: 3) 25 p.
How to cite this publication:
Ivar Kolstad (2004). What constitutes a convention? Implications for the coexistence of conventions. Bergen: Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI Working Paper WP 2004: 3)
A model of repeated play of a coordination game, where stage games have a location in social space, and players receive noisy signals of the true location of their games, is reviewed. Sugden (1995) suggests that in such a model, there can be a stationary state of convention coexistence only if interaction is non-uniform across social space. This paper shows that an alternative definition of conventions, which links conventions to actions rather than expectations, permits convention coexistence when interaction is uniform. To assess robustness, the concept of a global mutant is introduced, to which certain states of coexistence are robust.
