Strategic Interaction Research Articles

Resveratrol as an adjuvant prebiotic therapy in the management of pulmonary thromboembolism.

Pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) presents a grave threat to patient lives, often marked by arterial occlusion in the pulmonary vasculature, frequently stemming from deep vein thrombosis (DVT). While current anticoagulant therapies offer temporary relief, they fall short of addressing the long-term management of PTE. Notably, PTE-associated mortality rates continue to rise annually, positioning it as a crucial concern within the cardiovascular landscape. An intriguing suspect underlying compromised prognoses is the intricate interplay between the gut microbiome and PTE outcomes. The gut-derived metabolite, trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), has emerged as a direct contributor to accelerated thrombogenesis, thereby heightening PTE susceptibility. In pursuit of remedies, research has delved into diverse prebiotic and probiotic interventions, with Resveratrol (RSV) emerging as a promising candidate. This paper explores the potential of RSV, a polyphenolic compound, as an adjuvant prebiotic therapy. The proposed therapeutic approach not only augments anticoagulant potency through strategic pharmacokinetic interactions but also introduces a novel avenue for attenuating future PTE incidents through deliberate gut microbiome modulation. RSV's multifaceted attributes extend beyond its role in PTE prevention. Recognized for its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and cardioprotective properties, RSV stands as a versatile therapeutic candidate. It exhibits the ability to curtail platelet aggregation, augment warfarin bioavailability, and mitigate pulmonary arterial wall thickening - an ensemble of effects that substantiate its potential as an adjunct prebiotic for PTE patients. This literature review weaves together the latest insights, culminating in a compelling proposition: RSV is an instrumental player in the trajectory of PTE management.

An fMRI Dataset on Social Reward Processing and Decision Making in Younger and Older Adults

Behavioural and neuroimaging research has shown that older adults are less sensitive to financial losses compared to younger adults. Yet relatively less is known about age-related differences in social decisions and social reward processing. As part of a pilot study, we collected behavioural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 50 participants (Younger: N = 26, ages 18–34 years; Older: N = 24, ages 63–80 years) who completed three tasks in the scanner: an economic trust game as the investor with three partners (computer, stranger, friend) as the investee; a card-guessing task with monetary gains and losses shared with three partners (computer, stranger, friend); and an ultimatum game as responder to three anonymous proposers (computer, age-similar adults, age-dissimilar adults). We also collected B0 field maps and high-resolution structural images (T1-weighted and T2-weighted images). These data could be reused to answer questions about moment-to-moment variability in fMRI signal, representational similarity between tasks, and brain structure.

Game theory-based analysis of policy instrument consequences on energy system actors in a Nordic municipality

The transition of energy systems requires policy frameworks and instruments to make both energy suppliers and consumers contribute to the common goal of emission reductions and to fairly allocate costs and benefits among market actors and the government. Assuming that market actors – suppliers and consumers adhering to their economic interests – would benefit from cooperating to mitigate emissions, this study applies a game theory-based approach to investigate the interaction between a local electricity supplier and a group of heating consumers not connected to district heating. Selected policy instruments are tested, and their consequences are analyzed in the context of a representative Nordic municipality. The results show that the auction-based Contract for Difference policy instrument is the most suitable one in the studied Nordic context to achieve significant levels of CO2 emissions reduction. It creates a higher level of strategic interaction between the actors, that would be lacking otherwise, under the form of transfer payments from consumers to supplier, and avoids costs to the general taxpayer. While this is sufficient to promote the investments in renewables by the supplier, additional subsidy policies are required to enable the heating consumers to invest in more capital-intensive energy efficiency measures or biomass heating.

Co-evolution of heterogeneous cognition in spatial snowdrift game with asymmetric cost.

The emergence of the evolutionary game on complex networks provides a fresh framework for studying cooperation behavior between complex populations. Numerous recent progress has been achieved in studying asymmetric games. However, there is still a substantial need to address how to flexibly express the individual asymmetric nature. In this paper, we employ mutual cognition among individuals to elucidate the asymmetry inherent in their interactions. Cognition arises from individuals' subjective assessments and significantly influences their decision-making processes. In social networks, mutual cognition among individuals is a persistent phenomenon and frequently displays heterogeneity as the influence of their interactions. This unequal cognitive dynamic will, in turn, influence the interactions, culminating in asymmetric outcomes. To better illustrate the inter-individual cognition in asymmetric snowdrift games, the concept of favor value is introduced here. On this basis, the evolution of cognition and its relationship with asymmetry degree are defined. In our simulation, we investigate how game cost and the intensity of individual cognitive changes impact the cooperation frequency. Furthermore, the temporal evolution of individual cognition and its variation under different parameters was also examined. The simulation results reveal that the emergence of heterogeneous cognition effectively addresses social dilemmas, with asymmetric interactions among individuals enhancing the propensity for cooperative choices. It is noteworthy that distinctions exist in the rules governing cooperation and cognitive evolution between regular networks and Watts-Strogatz small-world networks. In light of this, we deduce the relationship between cognition evolution and cooperative behavior in co-evolution and explore potential factors influencing cooperation within the system.

Community-Based Wildlife Conservation on Pastoral Lands in Kenya: A New Logic of Production with Implications for the Future of Pastoralism

Community-based wildlife conservation has been identified as a potentially successful approach to meet the needs of wildlife and the interests of local communities living among wildlife, national governments, and the global community interested in stemming the extinction crisis facing the planet. There is a significant literature critiquing the neoliberal approach to community-based conservation arguing that it has not been successful in meeting conservation goals or community goals. While in agreement with many of the critiques and the general calls for a more equitable direction that respects and draws on local and indigenous value systems, we focus on some of the implications of community-based conservation for pastoralism in Samburu County, Kenya. We employed an ethnographic approach, integrating informal and in-depth interviews, a random sample survey of 300 households, participant observation, and experimental economics games. Our findings show that the establishment of core areas, buffer zones, and grazing strategies that depart radically from previous practices reduced pastoralists’ access to critical rangeland resources and forced them to find pastures elsewhere. Thus, while community-based conservation purports to encourage landscape-level land management and coordination, in practice, it contributes to land fragmentation. Our results also explain why community-based conservation persists despite the costs for pastoralists.

Global shocks, budgets deficits, and international fiscal policy coordination

AbstractA simple two‐country model with trade, fiscal and interest rate externalities is used to study strategic interactions between national policymakers. Optimal fiscal policy internalizes a trade‐off between output stability and fiscal stability. With lump‐sum taxation, the noncooperative equilibrium is inefficient and both countries are better off under coordination. These results also hold if taxation is distortionary and trade generates a fiscal externality as well, regardless of how strong the preference for output stability is. In response to a negative global demand shock, consistent with the disruptions that occurred during the recent pandemic, the optimal policy response is to increase spending by more under cooperation. However, if budget deficits generate a sufficiently strong negative cross‐border externality through higher interest rates, the optimal response calls for lower spending under cooperation.

Stratification of polyisocyanate in two-component waterborne polyurethane films

The coatings industry continually seeks advancements in waterborne two-component polyurethane (2 K WBPU) systems, given their potential for environmentally friendly applications and superior film properties. This study explores the mechanistic aspects of film formation in 2 K WBPU coatings formulated with an acrylic polyol and a polyisocyanate (PIC) derived from a trimer of hexamethylene diisocyanate (HDI-trimer). To enhance water dispersibility—a key parameter in industrial applications—the HDI-trimer is modified with a short polyethylene glycol, producing a hydrophilically modified PIC (hmPIC). While prior studies identified hmPIC as an effective reactive plasticizer for the polyol, the common practice of adding unmodified HDI-trimer (uPIC) to hmPIC for moisture sensitivity reduction necessitates a deeper understanding of film properties. Using fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) and confocal fluorescence microscopy, we investigated the effects of blending uPIC with hmPIC on coalescence, phase separation, and film stratification in 2 K WBPU systems. Notably, environmental factors like relative humidity were found to influence film stratification significantly. This finding has critical implications for coating performance, such as durability and water resistance. A novel method was also introduced to monitor water permeation within stratified films, offering a valuable tool for optimizing film properties in real-world applications. This study underscores the importance of strategic component interactions in polymer coatings, suggesting that controlled film stratification can significantly enhance film performance in industrial settings.

Effects of individual and collective decision rule on cooperation in public goods game

Research on public goods game has traditionally focused on studying the effects of punishment and reward in experimental settings, commonly known as standard games. However, these standard games often examine isolated interactions among individuals, leading to varying results based on factors such as the population studied, number of participants, and geographical context. Consequently, the understanding of cooperation evolution remains imprecise.To address this limitation, we are trying to generalize these experimental studies, we employ an agent-based model in this study to simulate interactions in public goods game and explore the influence of punishment and reward on the evolution of cooperation. Unlike standard games, evolutionary games offer a more comprehensive framework to capture and analyze a broader range of strategic interactions and behaviors.In our approach, we introduce two methods for applying punishment or reward: Individual Punishment or Reward and Collective Punishment or Reward. Under the first method, actors can individually reward or punish each other based on their contributions or free-riding behavior towards the collective good. In the second method, decisions for punishment or reward are made collectively after achieving a consensus or agreement among the members of the group. We provide a model for comparing Individual Decision Rule and Collective Decision Rule under punishment and reward, to study their effects on the evolution of contributions.Consistent with recent experimental findings, our results indicate that these mechanisms lead to a significant increase in contributions compared to the outcomes observed in standard public goods game. Additionally, we demonstrate the significant role of rewards in promoting contribution within public goods game.

Ukraine’s Strategic Interactions with the EU and Russia during the Turbulent Month of the Crimean Annexation

Abstract What shapes a country’s foreign policy formation in times of crisis? This article explores the factors that were behind the response of Ukrainian decision makers in their relations with Russia and the European Union during the annexation of Crimea between February 21 and March 26, 2014. I view Ukraine’s foreign policy through the lenses of an analytical framework inspired by game theory, where the decision-making process is divided into four parts—information about others’ preferences, trust in interlocutors, everyone’s payoffs, and resources. This article employs a rigorous qualitative thematic analysis of 38 elite interviews, numerous primary documents, and media reports. The core finding suggests that the uncertain times and unpreparedness of Ukrainian decision makers obstructed them from a comprehensive analysis of the environment and formation of the country’s foreign policy strategy, which, consequently, facilitated Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

An experimental test of the global-game selection in coordination games with asymmetric players

In symmetric binary-choice coordination games, the global-game selection (GGS) has been proven to predict a high proportion of observed choices correctly. In these games, the GGS is identical to the best response to Laplacian beliefs about the fraction of players choosing either action. This paper presents an experiment on asymmetric games in which the GGS differs from the best response to Laplacian beliefs. In these games, the best response to Laplacian beliefs is a better predictor of individual actions than the GGS. In the considered games, the GGS provides poor guidance and also fails to give the right qualitative comparative statics predictions. Simple cognitive hierarchy models yield better predictions. The best response to a Laplacian belief about the distribution of other players’ actions yields the best prediction. Comparing maximum likelihood estimates for four probabilistic models shows that noisy Laplacian-belief or level-k models fit better than an estimated global-game equilibrium.

Strategic interaction among stakeholders on low-carbon buildings: A tripartite evolutionary game based on prospect theory.

Low-carbon buildings (LCBs) are still in the early stages of development in China. The promotion and implementation of associated policies are not yet fully matured. Meanwhile, their status as public goods exacerbates the uncertainty and complexity regarding anticipated gains and potential losses. Few studies have explored the impact of perception parameters on the decision-making processes of LCBs' stakeholders. Thus, combined with prospect theory, this paper establishes a tripartite game model composed of governments, developers, and consumers to explore their interactions and influences in different stages. Real-life scenarios are further utilized to validate the effectiveness of the model in predicting the behaviors under respective preferences. The results show that the increase in subsidy and penalty intensity instead diminishes the enthusiasm for LCBs. More specifically, the existing subsidy policies offer limited incentives to consumers. With the addition of the perception parameter, there exist differences in the sensitivity of consumers and developers towards risk levels and potential losses. The findings also highlight the importance of consumers in the LCBs market. Future policies should encourage developers and consumers to jointly promote the LCBs implementation.

The ego is no fool: Absence of motivated belief formation in strategic interactions

We investigate whether individuals are more easily fooled by others when they enhance their personal characteristics and abilities. We use an experiment in which participants complete an IQ test and then play a sender–receiver game. The experiment has a 2x2 factorial design. First, we determine the state either by the receiver’s relative performance or by a randomly drawn number. Second, monetary incentives, which are common knowledge, are such that the sender is better off (worse off) when the receiver’s action is about him being of high (low) rank, while the receiver benefits from selecting the action that matches his true rank. We find that receivers are not more likely to believe senders or to move their action further from their prior beliefs when they provide news that carries ego-relevant information about themselves, compared to the cases in which the news carries no ego-relevant information.

The Marriage Game Revisited: New Insights About Domestic Labor, Divorces and Men’s Expectations About Marriage

In the Marriage Game, women decide whether to get married and afterward men decide whether to cooperate in the domestic tasks. Then, if a husband is not cooperative, a wife can divorce or remain married. The sequence of decisions can be formalized as a game in extensive form, in which the strategic interaction between partners turns out evident. A husband may deceive, hoping that the divorce threat is not realistic, and a woman may decide not to get married from the beginning. If players had perfect knowledge about partners’ attitude, then divorce would not exist. Unfortunately, partners’ type is revealed only after the wedding. So, it is assumed that the game is played by different type of players, both men and women, and they interact with incomplete information. The model is solved by calculating all the perfect Bayes–Nash equilibria and it is shown that they depend on a complex interaction between model parameters, as multiple or mixed strategy equilibria can be found same parameters configuration. Comparing equilibria, we argue that the model can describe the marriage evolution that has been experienced by contemporary society. Following the increasing women’s participation in the job market, the number of marriages started to decline, but surprisingly, we are observing its resurgence in the most advanced societies. Our solution to the Marriage Game points to both the active role of autonomous women and the men’s expectations about marriage. As the number of autonomous women increases, men realize that divorce is credible and they change their expectations on women.

Strategic interaction in the market for charitable donations: The role of public funding

AbstractGovernment financing of charities influences their fundraising and private donations. To analyze competition between charities, we modify the model of fundraising introduced by Andreoni and Payne, where there are two groups of donors and two charities. We concentrate on warm‐glow motivation for giving and highlight strategic interaction in the market for donations. The charities are output‐maximizing, producing services with a purchased input and in‐house managerial supervision. In the absence of public funding, fundraising by charities are strategic complement given fixed costs. We show that block grants can change the nature of the competition, making fundraising strategic substitutes if grants exceed fixed costs. A charity receiving a grant will optimally reduce its fundraising, but the level of service provision will also be affected by the fact that the competing charity will solicit more intensively. The competitor will deliver more services because it benefits from the reduction in solicitation by the grant recipient. In this setting, matching grants work much like block grants as charities in both cases will compete less intensively for donations. That is, incentives for fundraising are weaker with matching grants. However, if both instruments are used the impact of a matching grant depends on whether the block grant over‐ or undercompensates for fixed costs. An optimal funding policy must account for this interaction effect as well as the fungibility of support working through charity competition in the market for donations.

Acute stress reduces effortful prosocial behaviour.

Acute stress can change our cognition and emotions, but what specific consequences this has for human prosocial behaviour is unclear. Previous studies have mainly investigated prosociality with financial transfers in economic games and produced conflicting results. Yet a core feature of many types of prosocial behaviour is that they are effortful. We therefore examined how acute stress changes our willingness to exert effort that benefits others. Healthy male participants - half of whom were put under acute stress - made decisions whether to exert physical effort to gain money for themselves or another person. With this design, we could independently assess the effects of acute stress on prosocial, compared to self-benefitting, effortful behaviour. Compared to controls (n = 45), participants in the stress group (n = 46) chose to exert effort more often for self- than for other-benefitting rewards at a low level of effort. Additionally, the adverse effects of stress on prosocial effort were particularly pronounced in more selfish participants. Neuroimaging combined with computational modelling revealed a putative neural mechanism underlying these effects: more stressed participants showed increased activation to subjective value in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula when they themselves could benefit from their exerted effort relative to when someone else could. By using an effort-based task that better approximates real-life prosocial behaviour and incorporating trait differences in prosocial tendencies, our study provides important insights into how acute stress affects prosociality and its associated neural mechanisms.

Acute stress reduces effortful prosocial behaviour

Acute stress can change our cognition and emotions, but what specific consequences this has for human prosocial behaviour is unclear. Previous studies have mainly investigated prosociality with financial transfers in economic games and produced conflicting results. Yet a core feature of many types of prosocial behaviour is that they are effortful. We therefore examined how acute stress changes our willingness to exert effort that benefits others. Healthy male participants – half of whom were put under acute stress – made decisions whether to exert physical effort to gain money for themselves or another person. With this design, we could independently assess the effects of acute stress on prosocial, compared to self-benefitting, effortful behaviour. Compared to controls (n = 45), participants in the stress group (n = 46) chose to exert effort more often for self- than for other-benefitting rewards at a low level of effort. Additionally, the adverse effects of stress on prosocial effort were particularly pronounced in more selfish participants. Neuroimaging combined with computational modelling revealed a putative neural mechanism underlying these effects: more stressed participants showed increased activation to subjective value in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula when they themselves could benefit from their exerted effort relative to when someone else could. By using an effort-based task that better approximates real-life prosocial behaviour and incorporating trait differences in prosocial tendencies, our study provides important insights into how acute stress affects prosociality and its associated neural mechanisms.

The links between physical activity and prosocial behavior: an fNIRS hyperscanning study.

The prevalence of physically inactive lifestyles in modern society raises concerns about the potential association with poor brain health, particularly in the lateral prefrontal cortex, which is crucial for human prosocial behavior. Here, we explored the relationship between physical activity and prosocial behavior, focusing on potential neural markers, including intra-brain functional connectivity and inter-brain synchrony in the lateral prefrontal cortex. Forty participants, each paired with a stranger, completed two experimental conditions in a randomized order: (i) face-to-face and (ii) face stimulus (eye-to-eye contact with a face stimulus of a fictitious person displayed on the screen). Following each condition, participants played economic games with either their partner or an assumed person displayed on the screen. Neural activity in the lateral prefrontal cortex was recorded by functional near-infrared spectroscopy hyperscanning. Sparse multiset canonical correlation analysis showed that a physically inactive lifestyle was covaried with poorer reciprocity, greater trust, shorter decision-making time, and weaker intra-brain connectivity in the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex and poorer inter-brain synchrony in the ventral lateral prefrontal cortex. These associations were observed exclusively in the face-to-face condition. Our findings suggest that a physically inactive lifestyle may alter human prosocial behavior by impairing adaptable prosocial decision-making in response to social factors through altered intra-brain functional connectivity and inter-brain synchrony.

Carbon Taxes Around the World: Cooperation, Strategic Interactions, and Spillovers

Carbon Taxes Around the World: Cooperation, Strategic Interactions, and Spillovers

A Game-Theory Analysis of Political Decision-Making in Geopolitical Hotspots: Perspective on Crisis Management in Border Disputes

This This review analyses the application of game theory and behavioural economics to political decision-making in geopolitical hotspots, with a focus on border disputes. Using case studies, it highlights how strategic interactions and psychological factors like loss aversion influence crisis management. The paper aims to provide insights for mitigating tensions and improving conflict resolution strategies

Bounded Rationality, Beliefs and Social Preferences in Strategic Interaction

Bounded Rationality, Beliefs and Social Preferences in Strategic Interaction