FIGHT OR FLIGHT: ENDOGENOUS TIMING IN CONFLICTS

FIGHT OR FLIGHT: ENDOGENOUS TIMING IN CONFLICTS

Boris van Leeuwen, Theo Offerman, and Jeroen van de Ven*

Abstract—We study a dynamic game in which players compete for a prize.
In a waiting game with two-sided private information about strength lev-
los, players choose fighting, fleeing, or waiting. Players earn a “deterrence
value” on top of the prize if their opponent escapes without a battle. Nosotros
show that this value is a key determinant of the type of equilibrium. Para
intermediate values, sorting takes place, with weaker players fleeing be-
fore others fight. Time then helps to reduce battles. In an experiment, nosotros
find support for the key theoretical predictions and document suboptimal
predatory fighting.

I.

Introducción

FOLLOWING Maynard Smith’s (1974) seminal contribu-

ción, competition for a prize is often modeled as the war
of attrition. In this game, players choose the time at which
they intend to flee. Time is costly, and players may differ
in their opportunity costs. The player who waits the longest
wins the prize and both players pay a cost proportional to
the time it takes for the losing player to flee. Maynard Smith
refers to this type of interaction as a “display.” In a display,
no physical contact takes place, although if it does, it does
not settle the battle or convey information about which player
would win an escalated conflict.

The main contribution of our paper is that we develop and
analyze a game in which at any moment, players can not
only wait or flee; they also have the option to start a fight. En
case of a fight, a battle ensues and the stronger player wins
the prize while the losing player incurs a loss. This dynamic
fight-or-flight game allows us to make sense of a much wider
variety of competitions. It captures the essence of many types
of interactions in which the timing of actions plays a crucial
role, such as R&D races, litigation, the launch of political
or advertising campaigns, and firm acquisitions. It also fits
situations in the animal kingdom, where animals fight over
territory or prey. In all these examples, players can “flee”
(p.ej., reduce R&D spending, settle), wait to see if the other
gives in, or initiate a fight (p.ej., sue the opponent, start a
hostile takeover), forcing the other into a battle.

Received for publication September 9, 2019. Revision accepted for pub-

lication June 18, 2020. Editor: Shachar Kariv.

∗van Leeuwen: Departamento de Economía, Tilburg University; Offerman:
CREED, University of Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute; van de Ven:
ASE, University of Amsterdam and Tinbergen Institute.

We thank the editor, two anonymous referees, Jian Song, and audiences
at the University of Arizona, the University of Cologne, the University
of Lyon, the University of Manchester University, Middlesex University,
New York University, MPI Bonn, NHH Bergen, Universidad de Oxford, UC
San Diego, Universidad de Utrecht, Universidad de Viena, WZB Berlin and at
IMEBESS Florence, M-BEES, NAG Toulouse, and TIBER for helpful sug-
gestions and comments. Financial support from the Research Priority Area
Behavioral Economics of the U. of Amsterdam, ANR–Labex IAST (Insti-
tute for Advanced Study in Toulouse), and CentER (Tilburg U.) is gratefully
acknowledged.

A supplemental appendix is available online at https://doi.org/10.1162/

rest_a_00961.

Our dynamic game helps to understand why in some situ-
ations, players want to wait and see if the other flees without
a battle, while in other circumstances, both want to act as
quickly as possible. To illustrate the former type of situation,
consider two political candidates who may wait a long time
before they officially announce that they are running for of-
fice. If the other flees without a battle, they avoid the costs
of a costly campaign that is required to win a fight. Male
elephant seals that contest the right of exclusive access to a
harem usually wait a couple of minutes to allow the other to
flee without a bloody fight.

In other instances, players want to act as quickly as pos-
sible. A firm that wants to expand its market by acquiring
a competitor should act quickly to prevent the prospective
target from selling its valuable assets. Another possible in-
terpretation is that compared to letting the other escape, por
winning a fight the player sends a stronger signal about its
strength to other players, thereby discouraging other players
from ever making a challenge. A firm that drives out another
firm by force will deter potential future competitors more than
if the other firm left voluntarily. In a lawless society without
a state monopoly of violence, people may want to rob each
other if they can. In an encounter, the stronger player prefers
to act as quickly as possible to avoid that the other flees with-
out losing his money.

Notice that both types of examples are not well described
by the war of attrition. In the first type of example, it may
happen that players fight after a waiting period, which is not
a possibility in the war of attrition. The war of attrition also
does not capture the essence of the second type of interaction.
En particular, the war of attrition does not accommodate that
strong players decide to fight in a split-second.

en este documento, we analyze the fight-or-flight game theoreti-
cally and experimentally. Teóricamente, we identify a key pa-
rameter, the deterrence value, that determines how the compe-
tition between two players will unfold. The deterrence value
is the amount that a player earns on top of the prize if the other
player manages to escape. Our theoretical analysis based on
standard preferences yields two main novel insights. Primero, si
the deterrence value is negative, all player types will rush and
act in a split-second. A negative deterrence value is illustrated
by the sale of valuable assets by a fleeing prospective firm
in the takeover example. If the deterrence value is positive,
players prefer to avoid the costly fight and wait before they
act. In the example where two political candidates engage in
a battle for office, the costs to organize a campaign represent
a positive deterrence value.

The second insight is that if the deterrence value is positive
but not too large, sorting will occur in the dynamic fight-or-
flight game. Eso es, the weakest players will flee just before
the end. De este modo, the dynamic structure helps players to avoid
costly fights, in comparison to a static version of the game that

La revista de economía y estadística., Marzo 2022, 104(2): 217–231
© 2020 The President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Publicado bajo una atribución Creative Commons 4.0
Internacional (CC POR 4.0) licencia.
https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_00961

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218

THE REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS

is stripped of its time element. These two results cannot be
obtained in a standard war of attrition. In that game, players’
waiting correlates positively with their strength, and rushing
by all types is never observed in equilibrium. Además, el
dynamic standard war of attrition does not help players to
sort and avoid costly fights in comparison to the static version
(Hörisch & Kirchkamp, 2010).

We also investigate what happens in a behavioral model
in which players differ in their degree of risk aversion. Este
model yields two additional testable implications. Primero, él
predicts that sorting will occur in a wider set of circumstances
than in the standard model. Segundo, it predicts that the more
risk-averse players flee more frequently before the end.

We test the predictions in an experiment in which we sys-
tematically vary the deterrence value and the dynamic or
static nature of the game between treatments. Our experimen-
tal findings support some of the key features of the theory,
at least in terms of its comparative statics. With a negative
deterrence value, subjects quickly learn to decide in a split-
segundo. With a positive deterrence value, subjects tend to
wait much longer and indeed use time to sort. In agreement
with the model of heterogeneous risk aversion, we find that
endogenous timing reduces the likelihood of costly battles
in a wider set of circumstances than predicted by standard
theory. Subjects classified as more risk averse on the basis
of an independent task are indeed the ones who tend to flee
more often early in the game. De este modo, while not all results are
consistent with the point predictions of the model, in terms
of comparative statics, behavior often moves in the expected
direction.

An interesting finding that deviates from the predictions
is that a sizable minority of subjects fight early when the
deterrence value is positive. This is the case even after am-
ple time to learn. This finding is in stark contrast with some
behavioral findings in related dynamic games. Por ejemplo,
Roth, Murnighan, and Schoumaker (1988) report that the
deadline effect, a striking concentration of agreements in
the final seconds of the game, is the most robust behav-
ioral finding in a class of games designed to test axiomatic
models of Nash bargaining. Roth and Ockenfels (2002) y
Ockenfels and Roth (2006) identify substantial last-minute
bidding in second-price auctions. They attribute this phe-
nomenon of sniping to both strategic and naive considerations
of the bidders. We discuss some potential explanations for the
anomaly of early fighting in our contest game at the end of the
section IV.

One feature of our experimental design is that time is dis-
crete but with very short time intervals. This makes it hard for
subjects to precisely time their actions and could be one of the
reasons behind the decrease in costly battles in the dynamic
juegos. In a follow-up experiment, we make it easier for sub-
jects to time their action by making the time intervals longer.
Consistent with the theoretical predictions, we no longer ob-
serve a decrease in battles compared to the static games when
the deterrence value is negative. In other respects, the results
closely resemble that of the original experiment.

Our paper contributes to the literature on dynamic games
in which players compete for a prize. Several studies compare
dynamic with static environments. Hörisch and Kirchkamp
(2010) investigate how experimental subjects behave in static
and dynamic versions of the war of attrition and some closely
related games. Teóricamente, the dynamic version of a war
of attrition does not help players to sort, and indeed, they do
not observe such a difference in their experiments.1 Theo-
retically, in an auction with symmetric interdependent valu-
ations, Goeree and Offerman (2003a) do not find that the ef-
ficiency of a dynamic English auction is improved compared
to the static second-price auction. A diferencia de, Kirchkamp and
Moldovanu (2004) investigate a setup where a bidder’s value
is determined by his own signal in combination with the sig-
nal of his right neighbor. In this setting, bidders can retrieve
valuable information in a dynamic auction process. In an ex-
perimento, they find that the efficiency of the English auction
is higher than in a second-price auction in which no such
information can be retrieved, which accords with theory.2

The remainder of the paper is organized as follows. Sección
II introduces the fight-or-flight game and presents the theory.
Section III discusses the experimental design and procedures.
Section IV provides the experimental results, and section V
concluye.

II. Teoría

A. Dynamic Fight-or-Flight game

We first describe the dynamic version of the fight-or-flight
juego. En esta sección, we present a basic version of the game.
In section IIC and online appendix B, we discuss several
extensions.

Time is discrete, with a finite number of periods t =
0, 1, . . . , t . For each t < T , as long as the game has not ended, the two players independently decide to wait, flee (R, 1There is a large literature on static contest games. Carrillo and Palfrey (2009) study a contest game that is quite close to our static benchmark. They find that subjects compromise more often than in equilibrium, and they discuss some explanations based on cognitive limitations. De Dreu et al. (2016) investigate a game in which a group of attackers competes with a group of defenders. They find that in-group defense is stronger and better coordinated than out-group aggression. Oprea, Henwood, and Friedman (2011) show how the matching protocol affects outcomes in continuous time Hawk-Dove games. Dechenaux, Kovenock, and Sheremeta (2015) provide a survey of the experimental literature on contest games. 2The war of attrition has been applied to various settings, including versions with private information (Fudenberg & Tirole, 1986; Ponsati & Sákovics, 1995) and applications to public good provision (Bliss & Nale- buff, 1984; Weesie, 1993). Oprea, Wilson, and Zillante (2013) experimen- tally study war of attrition games with two-sided private information (as in Fudenberg & Tirole, 1986) and observe behavior close to theoretical pre- dictions. More generally, the study of dynamic games reveals novel insights that significantly surpass what we know from the study of static games. Re- cent contributions include Potters, Sefton, and Vesterlund (2005), Levin and Peck (2008), Ivanov, Levin, and Peck (2009), Kolb (2015), and Agranov and Elliott (2017). The recent experimental literature on continuous time ex- periments shows that outcomes in continuous time may substantially differ from outcomes in discrete time (Friedman & Oprea, 2012; Oprea, Charness, & Friedman, 2014; Bigoni et al., 2015; Calford & Oprea, 2017). l D o w n o a d e d f r o m h t t p : / / d i r e c t . m i t . e d u / r e s t / l a r t i c e - p d f / / / / 1 0 4 2 2 1 7 1 9 9 6 1 4 0 / r e s t _ a _ 0 0 9 6 1 p d . f b y g u e s t t o n 0 8 S e p e m b e r 2 0 2 3 FIGHT OR FLIGHT 219 for “retreat”), or fight (F ). In the final period, players can no longer wait and have to choose F or R. The game ends with at least one player choosing F or R, at which point the action set becomes null. At the start, each player i is privately informed of her fighting ability ai. It is common knowledge that ai is in- dependently drawn from a uniform distribution over the unit interval. A player’s strategy lists for every ability the number of periods in which she chooses to wait and her choice if play reaches the period in which she wants to act. A player type’s strategy s(ai) is described as (t, A), where A ∈ {F, R}. This means that player i with ability ai will choose action A (fight or flee) in period t if the other player did not fight or flee earlier. The game ends as soon as one of the players decides to fight or flee. The outcome can be a battle or an escape. A battle occurs if the player with the shortest waiting time chooses to fight or if both choose to fight at the same time. An escape occurs if the player with the shorter waiting time chooses to flee or if they both choose to flee at the same time. If one of the players chooses to fight and the other chooses to flee at the same time, an escape occurs with probability p and a battle with probability 1 − p. Payoffs. In case of a battle, the player with the higher ability receives v h > 0 (the prize), and the other earns −v l ,
where v h, v l > 0. In case of an escape, the player who chose
to flee earns 0 while the other earns v h + k, the prize plus
a deterrence payoff k. This deterrence value can be positive
or negative. A positive deterrence value captures situations
where fighting is costly, so that players prefer to get the prize
without fighting for it. A negative deterrence value captures
situations in which beating the other generates a higher value
compared to when the other escapes. We restrict the analysis
to k > −v h, so that if the other escapes, this always gives a
higher payoff than escaping. As tie-breaking rules, asumimos
that if there is a battle between equally strong players, es
randomly determined (with equal probability) which player
receives v h and which player receives −v l . If both players
decided to flee at the same time, it is randomly determined
(with equal probability) who earns 0 and who earns v h + k.
Alternativamente, players could be allowed to share the prize
equally in case both flee. This would not affect the theoretical
analysis if players are risk neutral.

We assume that players maximize their expected utility and
do not discount the future. In online appendix B, we analyze
the case with discounting, but here our aim is to show how
time per se affects the ability of players to sort themselves
according to their strength. The case without discounting is
also relevant for many cases, such as when the cost of waiting
is small compared to the prize, the maximum duration of the
game is short, or the consumption of the prize happens at a
fixed point in time.3

We allow for the possibility that players are risk averse. A
keep the model parsimonious, we assume that each player’s

utility function is piecewise linear in the payoff x and given
por

Ud. (X) =

(cid:2)

if x ≥ 0
X
λx if x < 0. (1) Here, λ > 0 captures the degree of risk aversion (for λ > 1)
or risk seeking (0 < λ < 1). Naturally, when λ > 1, este
specification is also consistent with loss aversion. Our ap-
proach does not distinguish between loss and risk aversion.

B. Equilibrium

We look for pure-strategy Bayesian Nash equilibria. En
this section, we derive equilibria under the assumption that
players have threshold strategies, where types below a certain
threshold flee and types above that threshold fight. Intuitivamente,
stronger types have more to gain from fighting. We also as-
sume that no type acts after the period in which the stronger
type acts. In appendix A, we show that all equilibrium profiles
satisfy these properties.

Negative deterrence value. −v h < k < 0. For a negative deterrence value, the payoff of winning a battle exceeds that of allowing the other to escape. In this case, there is a unique equilibrium outcome in which all players fight or flee immedi- ately. The very strong types will want to fight, and very weak types will want to flee. If the weakest types would flee after t = 0, the strongest types have an incentive to fight before that so the opponent does not escape. But then the weakest types would deviate to fleeing earlier. This implies that the strongest types fight immediately, and the weakest types flee immediately. Any other type will then act immediately as well. Acting later is costly, because it does not result in fewer battles with stronger types who fight and gives weaker types the possibility of escaping. With all types acting immediately, let type ˜a be indifferent between fighting and fleeing. All stronger types fight and all weaker types flee. Suppose type ˜a flees. If the opponent is weaker, the expected payoff is (v h + k)/2, and this happens with probability ˜a. If the opponent is stronger, a battle results with probability 1 − p, and this will always be lost by type ˜a, giving a payoff −λv l . The expected payoff of fleeing is therefore given by ˜a 1 2 (v h + k) + (1 − ˜a)(1 − p)(−λv l ). (2) Suppose type ˜a fights. A weaker opponent escapes with probability p, giving a payoff v h + k, and otherwise there is a battle that will be won by type ˜a, giving a payoff v h. If the opponent is stronger, there will always be a battle that will be lost by ˜a. The expected utility of fighting is then given by 3By design, discounting also cannot play a role in the experiment. ˜a[p(v h + k) + (1 − p)v h] + (1 − ˜a)(−λv l ). (3) l D o w n o a d e d f r o m h t t p : / / d i r e c t . m i t . e d u / r e s t / l a r t i c e - p d f / / / / 1 0 4 2 2 1 7 1 9 9 6 1 4 0 / r e s t _ a _ 0 0 9 6 1 p d . f b y g u e s t t o n 0 8 S e p e m b e r 2 0 2 3 220 THE REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS Since type ˜a is indifferent between fleeing and fighting, it follows that ˜a = pλv l v h + pλv l + k 1 2 (cid:4) . (cid:3) p − 1 2 (4) The threshold ˜a is increasing in the probability of an es- cape p. As p increases, fighting against weaker types becomes less attractive since they become more likely to escape. More types will then flee in equilibrium. The effect of k on ˜a de- pends on the value of p. For p < 1 2 , an increase in k has a larger impact on the fleeing payoff than on the fighting pay- off. This means fleeing becomes more attractive, and more types will flee in equilibrium. For p > 1
2 , the reverse is true.

Positive deterrence value. k > 0. With a positive deter-
rence value, players are better off when the other manages
to escape than when they win a battle. En este caso, all the ac-
tion will be concentrated in the final two periods of the game.
Intuitivamente, sufficiently strong players will wait until the last
period to give other players the option to escape. Fighting
should take place only in the last period. Weaker types will
then also prefer to wait until at least the penultimate period,
since waiting until then gives opponents the option to escape
without the risk of ending up in a fight.

Como consecuencia, for k > 0, there is a fraction of types that
flees at T − 1 and a fraction that flees at T . El restante
fraction fights at T . All types that flee have the same payoff
independent of the moment that they flee; they always lose a
battle with a type that fights, and their payoff when the oppo-
nent flees is independent of their fighting ability. The equilib-
rium therefore does not pin down which types flee first, solo
the fraction. To determine the fraction of types that flee, nosotros
can assume without loss of generality that the weakest types
flee at T − 1. The equilibrium can then be characterized by
two threshold levels, ˆa1 and ˆa2 > ˆa1. Type ˆa1 is indifferent
between fleeing at T − 1 and fleeing at T . Type ˆa2 is indif-
ferent between fleeing at T and fighting at T . A fraction of
types ˆa1 flees at T − 1, and a fraction of types ˆa2 − ˆa1 flees
at T . Types above ˆa2 fight at T . The values of ˆa1 and ˆa2 are
given by

λv l [(v h − k)(1 − 2p) − 2k p2]

ˆa1 =

(v h + k + 2(1 − p)λv l )

(cid:3)

v h −

1
2

(cid:3)

1
2

(cid:4)
− p

ˆa2 =

2(1 − p)λv l
v h + k + 2(1 − p)λv l

.

(cid:4) ,

k

(5)

The fraction of types fleeing at T − 1 is positive for values
of k below ˆk, dónde

ˆk =

1 − 2p
1 − 2p + 2p2

v h.

(6)

For larger values of k, all types wait until the final period.
Intuitivamente, if k is large, it always pays off to wait and give

others the option to escape, even if that implies risking a
battle with stronger types. The same is true for larger values
of p. If the probability of an escape is large, it becomes more
attractive to wait, even if the opponent fights.

Thus there can be three types of equilibrium outcomes.
If k < 0, there is a rushing equilibrium in which all types immediately fight or flee. For intermediate positive values of k, there is a timing equilibrium in which some types wait until the penultimate period and then flee, while all others wait until the final period and then fight or flee. For high values of k, there is a waiting equilibrium in which all types wait until the last period and then fight or flee. While we derived these equilibria under the assumption that players have threshold strategies, in appendix A, we show that no other equilibria exist. The equilibrium outcome is generically unique, except for k = 0 or k = ˆk. Proposition 1 (Equilibrium). (i) If k < 0, the unique equilibrium outcome is a rushing equilibrium in which all players act immediately. Play- ers with abilities [0, ˜a] flee at t = 0, and players with abilities ( ˜a, 1] fight at t = 0. (ii) If 0 < k < ˆk, the unique equilibrium outcome is a tim- ing equilibrium in which a fraction ˆa1 of types flee in period T − 1, a fraction ˆa2 − ˆa1 of types flee in period T , and all types above ˆa2 fight in period T . (iii) If k > máximo{ˆk, 0}, the unique equilibrium outcome is a
waiting equilibrium in which types [0, ˜a] flee in period
T and types ( ˜a, 1] fight in period T, and ˜a = 1 para cualquier
v h < (1 − 2p)k. Proof. All proofs are in appendix A. Figure 1 illustrates the equilibrium outcomes. Figure 1a shows equilibrium outcomes for different combinations of the probability of an escape (p) and the deterrence value (k). Figure 1b shows how the threshold values change with k. For k < 0, fewer types fight as k increases. A higher k makes let- ting the other escape relatively more attractive, and such an escape becomes less likely by fighting. This reverses for pos- itive values of k, with more types fighting as k increases. For higher values of k, fewer types flee early. Fighting becomes relatively more attractive with more weaker types still around. The figure also illustrates how these thresholds change with an increase in p. To shed light on whether the dynamic time element of the fight-or-flight game decreases costly battles, we use a static version of the game as benchmark. In the static game, players choose simultaneously between fight and flee, and the same payoffs result as when players reach the final period of the dynamic game. The Bayesian Nash equilibrium of the static game coincides with the equilibrium of the dynamic game for parameters where all players act in the same period (that is, either case i or case iii described in proposition 1). An interesting feature of the timing equilibrium of the dy- namic game is that sorting takes place over time, resulting in fewer battles compared to what happens in the static game. l D o w n o a d e d f r o m h t t p : / / d i r e c t . m i t . e d u / r e s t / l a r t i c e - p d f / / / / 1 0 4 2 2 1 7 1 9 9 6 1 4 0 / r e s t _ a _ 0 0 9 6 1 p d . f b y g u e s t t o n 0 8 S e p e m b e r 2 0 2 3 FIGHT OR FLIGHT 221 FIGURE 1.—EQUILIBRIUM OUTCOMES WITH HOMOGENEOUS RISK AVERSION terrence values for which the timing equilibrium materializes does not depend on players’ risk aversion. This result changes when the population is heterogeneous in the degree of risk aversion. Intuitively, players who are relatively averse to risks will want to flee earlier. Indeed, a population that is hetero- geneous in the degree of risk aversion can sustain a timing equilibrium for a larger set of deterrence values. We show this in a simple framework with two levels of risk aversion and outline the two main strategic features of this model. Suppose that a fraction 1 − q of the population has a risk aversion parameter λ1, and a fraction q has λ2 > λ1. A
player’s value of λ is private information, but all players know
the distribution. Consider the case where q is very small. En
that case, the threshold levels derived assuming homogeneous
risk aversion in section IIA are not much affected for the less
risk-averse types. Fix an equilibrium in which k > ˆk, de modo que
all types with λ1 wait until period T .

If λ2 is such that

˜a

1
2

(v h + k) + (1 − ˜a)(1 − p)(−λ2v l ) < 0, (7) then types with λ2 and a fighting ability less than or equal to ˜a prefer to flee in period T − 1, while types with λ1 prefer to wait until T . Thus, for the same level of k, we now have a timing equilibrium instead of a waiting equilibrium. Another feature of this model is that the more risk-averse types will be the ones who flee more frequently before the end. To see this, note that for the ability level for which the less risk-averse type is indifferent between fleeing in period T − 1 and period T , the more risk-averse type still strictly prefers to flee in period T − 1. The reason is that the expected payoff of fleeing in period T − 1 is not affected by the degree of risk aversion (since there are no negative payoffs), while the expected payoff of fleeing in period T decreases in a player’s risk aversion (since the negative payoff when a battle is lost weighs more heavily). In the experiment, we will test these two implications of the model with heterogeneous risk aversion. Other extensions. We also considered some natural exten- sions of the model. Here we describe the main qualitative fea- tures of these extensions. In appendix B, we provide further details of these extensions, as well as discussion of the pros and cons of discrete versus continuous modeling in waiting games. So far we simply assumed that the stronger player always wins a battle. A natural possibility is that stronger types are more likely to win but do not win with certainty. When relative strength correlates sufficiently strongly with winning a battle, the results are qualitatively the same. That is, with a positive deterrence value, all the action will be concentrated in the final two periods. The strongest types still want to fight in the final period, while no type wants to flee before the penultimate period. Likewise, with a negative deterrence value, all types will still act immediately. When the link between relative (a) The solid dots indicate the experimentally implemented values (with vh = vl = 10, p = 0.1, and k = {−6, 6, 12}). (b) Rushing occurs to the left of the vertical axis, timing occurs between the vertical axis and the shaded area, waiting occurs in the shaded area. The dashed lines show a decrease in the escape probability (p) (for p < 1 2 ). The dark shaded area shows the waiting equilibrium for the lower value of p. In the dynamic game, the strongest types remain in the game until the last period, while some weaker types flee before any battle may take place. Moreover, a smaller fraction of types will fight; fighting becomes less attractive with fewer relatively weak players remaining. Proposition 2 (Battles and Sorting). Compared to a static (simultaneous-move) version of the game: (i) The frequency of battles is reduced in case of a tim- ing equilibrium and the same in case of a rushing or waiting equilibrium. (ii) The rate at which the weaker player in a pair man- ages to escape is increased in case of a timing equi- librium and the same in case of a rushing or waiting equilibrium. C. Extensions Heterogeneous risk aversion. A surprising feature of the analysis with a homogeneous population is that the set of de- l D o w n o a d e d f r o m h t t p : / / d i r e c t . m i t . e d u / r e s t / l a r t i c e - p d f / / / / 1 0 4 2 2 1 7 1 9 9 6 1 4 0 / r e s t _ a _ 0 0 9 6 1 p d . f b y g u e s t t o n 0 8 S e p e m b e r 2 0 2 3 222 THE REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS strength and winning a battle becomes weak, other types of equilibria exist. In the extreme case, where each type has an almost equal chance of winning a battle against any other type, there can be equilibria where all types prefer to fight, possibly at different periods. There can also be an equilibrium in which all types prefer to flee in the last period. Another natural extension is discounting of future pay- offs. Conditional on a discount factor sufficiently close to 1, our main theoretical findings remain qualitatively similar. That is, we find a rushing equilibrium when k < 0, a tim- ing equilibrium when 0 < k < ˆk, and a waiting equilibrium when k > máximo(0, ˆk). As in the timing equilibrium without
discounting, all the action happens in the penultimate and
last periods. The main difference with the model without dis-
counting is that the thresholds now also depend on the dis-
count factor. When discounting is important, the comparison
between the static and dynamic case becomes less clear-cut
in terms of welfare: the higher degree of sorting comes at the
cost of waiting longer.

A final variant that yields somewhat different predictions
is the one where players face a known cost for time. Aquí, él
may happen that weak players decide to drop out earlier than
the penultimate period. In a recent paper, Song and Houser
(2021) study the interesting case of costly waiting in detail.
In the experiment, we focus on the variant where time is
not costly for two reasons. Primero, it allows us to investigate
in a meaningful way how the dynamic game helps players
avoid costly battles compared to the static game where time
plays no role. Segundo, we think that it is a stronger result if
players use time as a sorting device when time is not costly.

III. Experimental Design and Procedures

A. Diseño

Subjects participated in a laboratory experiment in which
they played the fight-or-flight game. In all treatments, nosotros
set the value of winning a battle to v h = 10 and losing a
battle to −v l = −10. The probability of an escape when
at the same time one player decided to fight and the other
decided to flee was set to p = 0.1. Each subject played
the game forty rounds, with random rematching after ev-
ery round within a matching group of eight subjects. En
the start of each round, the subjects were informed of their
fighting ability for that round, which was an integer number
de {0, 1, 2, . . . , 1000}. They knew that each number was
equally likely, that each subject faced the same distribution,
and that draws were independent across subjects and rounds.
At the end of a round, each subject was informed of the out-
come, the paired subject’s fighting ability, and the resulting
payoffs.

We implemented two treatment variations. The first treat-
ment variable was the deterrence variable k, which was either
−6, 6, o 12. The second concerned the dynamic or static
nature of the flight-or-fight game. This gives a 3 × 2 diseño.
Every subject participated in only one of the treatments. In to-

Tratamiento
Versión

Dynamic
Dynamic
Dynamic
Static
Static
Static

TABLE 1.—OVERVIEW OF TREATMENTS

Deterrence
Value (k)
−6
6
12
−6
6
12

N Subjects

N Matching
Groups

64
56
64
56
64
56

8
7
8
7
8
7

tal, 360 subjects participated, with seven or eight independent
matching groups per treatment. Mesa 1 presents an overview.
In the dynamic fight-or-flight game, a 5 second countdown
started after all subjects in the laboratory had indicated that
they were ready to start. This ensured that subjects knew
exactly when the game would start. During the game itself,
a clock started counting down from 10 seconds to 0. El
program divided the 10 seconds in 50 periods of 200 mil-
liseconds each. Subjects implemented their strategies in real
tiempo. Por ejemplo, a subject could decide to wait for 5 segundo-
onds (es decir., for the first 25 periods) and then choose to fight,
which would determine the outcome of the game (unless the
other subject had already terminated the game earlier). Este
way she would implement the strategy (25, F ). If subjects let
the time run down to 0, they entered the endgame, en el cual
they simultaneously decided between fight and flee (with no
time constraints, as they decided simultaneously anyway).

Our dynamic game has 50 periods, more than the minimum
required to test the theoretical predictions of the model, y
short time intervals of 200 EM. Our goal was to have a design
that is closer to the examples that motivated our research.
A disadvantage is that rational subjects might find it hard
to exactly implement equilibrium strategies in our setup. A
follow-up experiment with longer time intervals addresses
this concern (see section IVD).

The static version of the game abstracted from the time
element and only consisted of the endgame of the dynamic
versión. Eso es, in this version of the game, subjects were
immediately put in the same position as the players of the
dynamic game who had both decided to wait until the end of
the game. So in the static game, both subjects simultaneously
chose between fight and flee.

After the main part, we obtained additional measurements.
We assessed subjects’ risk aversion using the method of
Gächter, Johnson, and Herrmann (2007). A subject chooses
whether to accept or reject six different lotteries. In a lottery,
the winning amount is 6 euros. The losing amount varies
across lotteries, from two to seven. In each lottery, the win-
ning and the losing amounts are equally likely. If a subject
rejects a lottery, she surely receives 0 euro. At the end of
the experiment, one of the six lotteries is selected at random
and played out for actual payment. The number of rejected
lotteries is our measure of a subject’s degree of risk aversion.
We also measured physical strength. We asked subjects to
press a hand dynamometer as hard as they could, following

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FIGHT OR FLIGHT

223

the procedure of Sell et al. (2009). This measurement was
obtained twice, and the best attempt was rewarded with 5
eurocents per kilo pushed. Finalmente, we obtained some self-
reported measurements on social dominance and prestige
(from Cheng, Tracy, & Henrich, 2010), perceived masculin-
idad, sexo, and age.4

This design allows us to investigate the predictions summa-
rized in propositions 1 y 2. Además, it makes it possible
to test the predictions from the behavioral model of hetero-
geneous risk aversion.

B. Procedures

The experiment was computerized and run at CREED
(University of Amsterdam). The instructions are in appendix
mi. Subjects read the instructions at their own pace. ellos podrían
continue only after correctly answering test questions at the
end of the instructions. To ease understanding, we used non-
neutral labels such as “fight” and “escape.” Subjects were
informed that there would be two parts, receiving new in-
structions at the start of each part.

During the experiment, subjects earned points, dónde 1
point = €0.70 (≈$0.84). To avoid a net loss at the end of
the experiment, they received a starting capital of 21 puntos,
and any profits or losses would be added to or subtracted
from this. At the end of the experiment, one round of the
main part was randomly selected for payment. Total earnings
averaged €19.09, ranging from €5.30 to €38.20.5 A session
took approximately 65 a 75 minutes.6

IV. Resultados

In sections IVA and IVB, we consider the testable predic-
tions following from propositions 1 y 2, respectivamente. Entonces,
in section IVC, we turn to decisions at the individual level. Todo
statistical tests comparing treatment differences use match-
ing group averages as the independent unit of observation,
unless indicated otherwise.

A. Timing of Actions

Following proposition 1, we address the comparative static
prediction that the timing of actions is influenced by the de-
terrence value. Específicamente, we expect very quick decisions
if the deterrence value is negative and decisions in the final
periods if the deterrence value is positive. Cifra 2 muestra
the average elapsed time before subjects made a decision

4Perceived masculinity is measured by the answer to the question: “On a
scale from 1 (very feminine) a 7 (very masculine), how would you describe
yourself?"

5The payment subjects received consisted of the starting capital and
their earnings in the fight-or-flight game, the lottery task, and the physi-
cal strength task.

6In addition to the forty decision rounds (which lasted around 20 minutos),
subjects spent time on the instructions and test questions (25 minutos), el
lottery task, questionnaire and physical strength task (15 minutos), y
payment of subjects (10 minutos).

FIGURE 2.—AVERAGE WAITING TIME (IN MS) BEFORE SUBJECTS MAKE A
DECISION IN THE DYNAMIC GAME, BY TREATMENT AND ROUND

Lines are moving averages of three rounds.

in the dynamic games. As predicted, we observe a clear ef-
fect of the deterrence value on the timing of actions. Con
a negative deterrence value, subjects tend to fight or flee al-
most immediately. De término medio, subjects make a decision af-
ter 273 EM. When the deterrence value is positive, subjects
tend to wait much longer. For k = 6, the average elapsed
time before making a decision is 3,545 EM, and for k = 12,
this is 3,973 EM. For both treatments with a positive deter-
rence value, the average waiting time is significantly longer
than for k = −6 (Mann-Whitney tests, pag = 0.001, norte = 15
for k = −6 vs k = 6 y P < 0.001, N = 16 for k = −6 versus k = 12). While subjects wait slightly longer when k = 12 than with k = 6, the difference is not statistically sig- nificant (Mann-Whitney test, p = 0.908, N = 15 for k = 6 vs k = 12). For all three treatments, we observe learning ef- fects. When the deterrence value is positive, subjects learn to wait, reflected by the strong, positive time trend over the rounds. The reverse holds for the negative deterrence value. In this case, subjects decide increasingly faster. The average elapsed time is 402 ms in the first ten rounds and 200 ms in the final ten rounds. When comparing the average wait- ing times in the first ten rounds and final ten rounds, all time trends are statistically significant (Wilcoxon signed-rank tests, p = 0.017, N = 8 for k = −6, p = 0.018, N = 7 for k = 6 and p = 0.017, N = 8 for k = 12). Figure 3 gives a more detailed picture of the timing of de- cisions. The figure plots the distribution of actions for each of the 10 seconds plus the endgame (T). The left panels show this for the first twenty rounds and the right panels for the final twenty rounds. Several patterns emerge. First, with a negative deterrence value, we clearly observe rushing: sub- jects decide almost immediately. None of the matches make it to the endgame, and 99.5% of all matches end in the first second. In fact, 90% of all matches end within the very first 200 ms, that is, in the first period.7 With a positive deterrence 7Figure A1 in appendix C shows the distribution of actions by 200 ms periods. l D o w n o a d e d f r o m h t t p : / / d i r e c t . m i t . e d u / r e s t / l a r t i c e - p d f / / / / 1 0 4 2 2 1 7 1 9 9 6 1 4 0 / r e s t _ a _ 0 0 9 6 1 p d . f b y g u e s t t o n 0 8 S e p e m b e r 2 0 2 3 224 THE REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS FIGURE 3.—DISTRIBUTION OF DECISIONS OVER TIME (SECONDS) BY DETERRENCE VALUE IN THE DYNAMIC GAME l D o w n o a d e d f r o m h t t p : / / d i r e c t . m i t . e d u / r e s t / l a r t i c e - p d f / / / / 1 0 4 2 2 1 7 1 9 9 6 1 4 0 / r e s t _ a _ 0 0 9 6 1 p d . f b y g u e s t t o n 0 8 S e p e m b e r 2 0 2 3 Period T indicates the endgame. Left panels are for the first twenty rounds and right panels for the final twenty rounds. Only observations where a player made a decision to fight or flee are included in the graph, that is, observations where a player was waiting when the other moved are omitted. value, most action is at the very beginning and the very end: subjects tend to decide either relatively quickly or wait until the final periods. In the final twenty rounds, a larger fraction of subjects waits until the end. This fraction might be under- estimated because a subject who is willing to wait until the end will reach the end of the game only if the paired player is also willing to wait until then. Among those waiting, there are some subjects who flee right before the endgame. Result 1. When the deterrence value is negative, players act immediately. When the deterrence value is positive, players are more likely to wait until the end of the game and they learn to wait longer. In contrast to the theoretical predictions, some subjects move at the very beginning of the game when the deterrence value is positive. This fraction decreases over time, but even in the final twenty rounds (the right-hand panels of figure 3), we do observe such behavior. This behavior is not in line with the timing equilibrium or waiting equilibrium. We return to this anomaly when we discuss individual behavior (section IVC). The comparative static results of increasing k are in line with the theoretical predictions. B. Frequency of Battles and Sorting The second main testable prediction, following from proposition 2, is that endogenous timing helps to avoid costly battles. Specifically, we expect fewer battles in the dynamic games in case of a timing equilibrium, but not in case of a rushing or waiting equilibrium. The left panel of figure 4 shows the frequency of battles for each treatment (we discuss the results for experiment 2 in section IVD). We do indeed observe fewer battles in the dynamic treatments compared to the static treatments. The difference varies between 15 and 26 percentage points depending on the deterrence value and is always highly significant (p < 0.003 in each case, two-sided Mann-Whitney tests). A regression analysis (table A1 in ap- pendix C, column 1) confirms that there are fewer battles in the dynamic treatments, and this effect is slightly stronger when the deterrence value is positive. FIGURE 4.—FRACTION OF BATTLES (LEFT PANEL) AND FRACTION OF TIMES THAT THE WEAKER PLAYER IN A PAIR ESCAPES (RIGHT PANEL) FIGHT OR FLIGHT 225 Error bars indicate 95% confidence intervals, based on matching groups as the independent unit of observation. The reduction of battles for k = 6 is in line with the com- parative static prediction following from proposition 2. For k = 6, the unique equilibrium outcome in the dynamic game is a timing equilibrium, resulting in fewer battles than in the equilibrium of the static game. Although we observe devia- tions from the timing equilibrium (in particular, some sub- jects move at the beginning of the game), we do find that the number of battles is reduced compared to the static case. The observed lower frequency of battles for k = 12 is not ex- pected if players are homogeneous in their risk aversion, but it is consistent with the comparative static prediction of our version of the model in which players differ in their degree of risk aversion.8 In contrast to the theoretical predictions, we also observe a decrease in battles when the deterrence value is negative. This result is, however, partly mechanical; even if all subjects wanted to act immediately, some subjects might be a fraction of a second slower than others, resulting in more escapes.9 It is also a possibility that random noise reduces the fre- quency of battles in the dynamic game. For instance, if players in the dynamic game choose fight, flee, and wait in each pe- riod with equal probabilities while players in the static game choose between flee and fight with equal probabilities, fewer battles will be observed in the static game.10 However, as we will illustrate in section IVC, the behavior of our subjects is very remote from this random benchmark. Our subjects re- spond in a sensible way to their private strength parameters. Moreover, in agreement with theory but in contrast to the random benchmark, we find that the dynamic nature matters most for reducing the frequency of battles when k > 0.

8As for k = 6, we also observe deviations from a timing equilibrium when
k = 12 as a number of subjects move early in the game. We discuss these
deviations in more detail in section IVC.

9Del 15 percentage point difference in battles between static and dy-
namic games when k = −6, 6 percentage points can be attributed to escapes
that occur just because the subject who wanted to fight is a fraction slower
than the subject who wanted to flee. El restante 9 percentage points can
be attributed to more subjects fighting in the static games.

10We thank a referee for this insight.

Also following proposition 2, we expect that players sort
themselves according to their fighting ability in case of a
timing equilibrium. The strongest players should wait longer
than weaker players, giving weaker players the opportunity
to escape. Por eso, weaker players should manage to escape
more frequently in the dynamic games than the static games
if the deterrence value is positive. Our results are in line with
this prediction. The right panel of figure 4 shows how often
the weaker subject in a pair escapes. Subjects sort on fighting
ability more often in the dynamic than the static game and the
increase is larger for dynamic games with a positive deter-
rence value. For k = −6, the weaker player escapes in 12%
of the matches in the static game and 26% of the matches in
the dynamic game. For k = 6 (k = 12), the weaker player es-
capes in 15% (18%) of the matches in the static game and 38%
(45%) of the matches in the dynamic game. la diferencia-
in-difference analysis reported in table A1 in appendix C
shows that the larger increase for positive deterrence values
is statistically significant.11
Result 2. There are fewer battles in the dynamic game than
in the static game. The dynamic version of the game helps
players to sort themselves according to their fighting abil-
idad, and this effect is stronger when the deterrence value is
positivo.

The reduced number of battles in the dynamic games also
positively affects earnings. Cifra 5 shows the mean earn-
ings for each treatment and for different levels of fighting
capacidad. As expected, stronger types attain higher earnings.
Averaging across all fighting abilities, earnings are higher in
the dynamic games than in the static games (Mann-Whitney
pruebas, pag < 0.003 for all three comparisons). Note that the dif- ference for k = −6 is much smaller than the differences for the treatments with a positive deterrence value. Moreover, for 11Figure A2 in appendix C shows decision times for weak and strong players separately. It confirms the comparative static prediction that stronger subjects wait longer than weaker subjects if the deterrence value is positive. Moreover, with experience, both weak and strong players learn to wait longer. l D o w n o a d e d f r o m h t t p : / / d i r e c t . m i t . e d u / r e s t / l a r t i c e - p d f / / / / 1 0 4 2 2 1 7 1 9 9 6 1 4 0 / r e s t _ a _ 0 0 9 6 1 p d . f b y g u e s t t o n 0 8 S e p e m b e r 2 0 2 3 226 THE REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS FIGURE 5.—MEAN EARNINGS BY TREATMENT AND FIGHTING ABILITY FIGURE 6.—BEHAVIOR BEFORE THE FINAL PERIOD IN THE DYNAMIC GAME, BY DETERRENCE VALUE k AND FIGHTING ABILITY a (IN TEN BINS OF EQUAL SIZE) l D o w n o a d e d f r o m h t t p : / / d i r e c t . m i t . e d u / r e s t / l a r t i c e - p d f / / / / 1 0 4 2 2 1 7 1 9 9 6 1 4 0 / r e s t _ a _ 0 0 9 6 1 p d . f b y g u e s t t o n 0 8 S e p e m b e r 2 0 2 3 In the category “wait” refers to subjects who made it to the endgame, and in “other moves” refers to subjects who did not make a move before the endgame but the other subject did. k = −6, the difference is driven by weaker subjects, whereas for the k > 0 tratos, all types on average benefit from
endogenous timing.

C.

Individual Behavior

We start this section by considering how actions in the
dynamic games depend on fighting ability. Cifra 6 plots the
fraction of subjects who flee or fight before the endgame,

those who were waiting while the other moved, and those
who wait until the endgame. We show this for the different
deterrence values and for different fighting ability levels (en
ten bins of equal size). In line with the results on decision
times discussed in section IVA, no subject waits until the
final period when the deterrence value is negative. Only a few
subjects (6%) are still waiting when the other moves. Cuando
the deterrence value is positive, many subjects wait until the
endgame or are waiting when the other moves. Combining

FIGHT OR FLIGHT

227

TABLE 2.—FLEEING BEFORE ENDGAME

(1)
k = −6

0.037***
(0.007)
−0,025
(0.031)
0.007
(0.011)
−0,015
(0.019)
−0.980***
(0.003)
0.000
(0.001)

(2)
k = 6

−0,001
(0.018)
−0.012
(0.052)
−0,028
(0.023)
−0,004
(0.020)
−0.881***
(0.034)
−0,000
(0.001)

(3)
k = 12

0.041**
(0.018)
0.003
(0.060)
−0,001
(0.015)
0.003
(0.020)
−0.889***
(0.016)
−0,000
(0.001)

Risk aversion

Female

Dominance

Physical strength

Fighting ability

Round

k = 6

k = 12

Observaciones

2,520

2,080

2,520

(4)
All k

0.026***
(0.009)
−0,008
(0.030)
−0,006
(0.010)
−0,002
(0.011)
−0.935***
(0.013)
−0,000
(0.000)
−0.127***
(0.030)
−0.112***
(0.022)
7,120

Panel data probit regressions, with random effects at the subject level. Coefficients are average marginal effects. Dependent variable is a dummy indicating whether the player decided to flee before the endgame or
no. Risk aversion is measured as the number of rejected lotteries. Dominance and physical strength are normalized (significar 0 and SD 1). Fighting ability takes on values between 0 y 1. Errores estándar (clustered at
the matching group level) entre paréntesis. Additional specifications with fewer or more controls are reported in table A4 in appendix C. ∗ p < 0.10, ∗∗ p < 0.05, and ∗∗∗ p < 0.01. those groups, we find that 44% of subjects (intend to) wait for both k = 6 and k = 12. In line with theory, we find in all treatments that weaker players are much more likely to flee and stronger players are much more likely to wait or fight. This pattern clearly shows that the behavior of subjects is far from a random benchmark. In the appendix, we provide further details on individual strategies. In appendix D, we estimate individual cutoff strate- gies. We find that most behavior is consistent with the use of cutoff strategies: around 90% of all decisions are captured by individual cutoff strategies. There is substantial heterogene- ity in the type of cutoff strategies that individuals employ. Although the estimated cutoffs organize the data very well, for a substantial number of subjects, the estimated cutoffs are remote from the theoretical prediction. In section IVB, we reported that sorting was observed not only for k = 6 but also for k = 12. Although behavior in both treatments does not exactly follow the predictions from the timing equilibrium (notably, some subjects move early on in the game), the finding that subjects sort in k = 12 is consis- tent with the idea that heterogeneous risk aversion enlarges the set of environments for which the timing equilibrium ap- plies. A more direct implication of heterogeneous risk aver- sion is that the more risk-averse players should flee early more often. Table 2 presents panel data probit regressions of how the probability of choosing to flee before the endgame (T ) depends on a subject’s level of risk aversion, together with some controls. In agreement with the model of heterogeneous risk aversion, more risk-averse subjects are more likely to flee before the endgame when k = −6 and when k = 12, and the effect survives when we combine all three treatments.12 An anomaly is the fighting behavior early on in the game when there are benefits of letting the other escape, that is, when k > 0. En este caso, fighting early is weakly dominated.
Given the observed actions in the experiment, the losses of
fighting early are substantial. Consider the strongest possible
type who wins every fight. This type would earn 14% más alto
expected payoffs by waiting to fight in the endgame if k = 6
y 42% higher expected payoffs if k = 12. Note that fighting
early is even more costly for weaker types. One possible rea-
son for why we observe this anomalous behavior is that sub-
jects may need some time to learn. As figure 3 muestra, we do
indeed observe less of this behavior in the final twenty rounds
compared to the first twenty rounds. Otro, more psycho-
logical, explanation for fighting early on in the game might
be a preference for social dominance. The evidence does not
support this. Mesa 3 shows that the survey measure of social
dominance is not a predictor of fighting early. We also do not
find an association with physical strength, but we do find that
women are more likely to fight early than men.13

It may be that some of our subjects start playing the game
with a misguided behavioral rule that in contests, it generally
pays off to strike first. Myerson (1991) proposes that behav-
ior that is apparently suboptimal behavior can sometimes be
understood by assuming that observed behavior is optimal
in a related but more familiar environment, which he calls a
“salient perturbation” (see Myerson, 1991; Samuelson, 2001;
Jehiel, 2005). Alternativamente, it could be that intuition favors
fighting behavior. According to the social heuristics hypothe-
hermana (Rand, verde, & Nowak, 2012; Rand et al., 2014) aplicado
to our setting, if fighting is typically advantageous, it could
become the intuitive response. Note that subjects who fight

12When we regress the estimated cutoff fighting ability below which sub-
jects flee before the endgame on risk aversion and other individual charac-
teristics, we obtain qualitatively similar results. The regressions are reported
in table A2 in appendix C.

13When we regress the estimated cutoff fighting ability above which sub-
jects fight before the endgame on risk aversion and other individual charac-
teristics, we obtain qualitatively similar results. The regressions are reported
in table A3 in appendix C.

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228

THE REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS

TABLE 3.—FIGHTING IN THE FIRST SECOND

(1)
k = 6

−0,030**
(0.015)
0.130
(0.100)
0.002
(0.019)
0.009
(0.054)
0.415***
(0.067)
−0.004***
(0.001)

All Rounds

(2)
k = 12

−0,013
(0.018)
0.029
(0.058)
0.018
(0.021)
0.001
(0.036)
0.368***
(0.060)
−0.005***
(0.001)

Risk aversion

Female

Dominance

Physical strength

Fighting ability

Round

k = 12

Observaciones

2,080

2,520

(3)
all k > 0

−0.020**
(0.010)
0.066
(0.050)
0.015
(0.016)
−0,001
(0.029)
0.389***
(0.044)
−0.005***
(0.001)
−0,017
(0.042)
4,600

(4)
k = 6

−0.020
(0.017)
0.161
(0.111)
−0,025
(0.021)
0.025
(0.053)
0.272***
(0.072)
−0,002
(0.001)

Final 20 Rounds

(5)
k = 12

−0,015
(0.013)
0.046
(0.049)
0.011
(0.014)
0.022
(0.027)
0.218**
(0.090)
−0.003*
(0.001)

1,040

1,260

(6)
all k > 0

−0.018*
(0.011)
0.097**
(0.048)
0.006
(0.011)
0.022
(0.025)
0.242***
(0.048)
−0.002***
(0.001)
−0,026
(0.036)
2,300

Panel data prohibit regression with random effects at the subject level. Coefficients are average marginal effects. Dependent variable is a dummy indicating whether the player decided to fight in the first second or
no. Risk aversion is measured as the number of rejected lotteries. Dominance and physical strength are normalized (significar 0 and SD 1). Fighting ability takes on values between 0 y 1. Errores estándar (clustered at
the matching group level) entre paréntesis. Additional specifications with fewer or more controls are reported in table A5 in appendix C. ∗ p < 0.10, ∗∗ p < 0.05, and ∗∗∗ p < 0.01. early on have limited opportunities to learn, since they never experience the benefits of waiting. This could explain why they do not converge fully to waiting until the end of the game. The fact that we observe an approximately equal frequency of early battles when k = 6 as when k = 12 suggests that this behavior is not due to a separate utility component reflect- ing (for instance) a desire to control the outcome or a joy of winning. If people have a preference to control the outcome, we would expect fewer early battles when it becomes more costly in k = 12.14 Still, when play has not yet converged to equilibrium, we cannot exclude that early fighting is en- couraged by players who experience a joy of winning when they beat the other in a battle. In our follow-up experiments reported in section IVD, we include some measures of joy of winning to get direct evidence for this possibility.15 Result 3. A sizable minority of players acts immediately when the deterrence value is positive. This behavior decreases with experience. D. Experiment 2 In the dynamic treatments, a period lasted 200 ms. Such short periods can make it hard for participants to precisely time their actions. This could potentially explain why even for k = −6, we observe fewer battles and more escapes in 14The same argumentation would apply to a distaste for surprise or sus- pense. 15Sheremeta (2010), Price and Sheremeta (2011), and Cason, Masters, and Sheremeta (2018) all report evidence that joy of winning and risk aversion are important factors in driving subjects’ behavior in contest games. In a second price auction with value uncertainty, Goeree and Offerman (2003b) find that bidders tend to submit bids below the expected value of the object, which suggests that risk aversion may be the stronger force. Sheremeta (2013) provides a survey. the dynamic game compared to the static game. We address this in a follow-up experiment.16 Experimental design and procedures. The design of exper- iment 2 closely follows that of the first experiment. We col- lected data for all dynamic treatments, using periods of 5 seconds instead of 200 ms and four periods per round (with forty rounds in total). This gives subjects more scope to time their actions. We also added two items to the survey, measur- ing subjects’ joy of winning. The first (incentivized) measure is taken from Sheremeta (2010, 2018). In this task, subjects can bid to win a contest with a prize of 0 points. For the second (nonincentivized) measure, subjects indicated how strongly they agreed with the statement: “I enjoy winning an amount by competing against another person more than I enjoy re- ceiving that same amount without having to compete for it” (rated on a 7-point Likert scale). The experiment was run online. Participants were recruited from the same subject pool as for the first experiment (ex- cluding subjects who already participated). As in the first experiment, we included test questions at the end of the in- structions. We showed the correct answers after two failed attempts on a question. We did this to prevent that subjects would log out if they had to wait too long. We kept track of the mistakes they made so that we can control for this in the analysis. In total, 168 subjects participated, with seven matching groups of eight subjects in each of the three dynamic treat- ments (k = −6, k = 6, k = 12).17 Sessions lasted around 60 minutes in total, and earnings varied between €4.20 and €35.70 (€19.00 on average). 16We thank a referee for this suggestion. 17We have some missing data for five subjects who lost the connection. If a subject could not be paired in a round because of this, he or she received the maximal payoff. l D o w n o a d e d f r o m h t t p : / / d i r e c t . m i t . e d u / r e s t / l a r t i c e - p d f / / / / 1 0 4 2 2 1 7 1 9 9 6 1 4 0 / r e s t _ a _ 0 0 9 6 1 p d . f b y g u e s t t o n 0 8 S e p e m b e r 2 0 2 3 FIGURE 7.—DISTRIBUTION OF DECISIONS OVER PERIODS BY DETERRENCE VALUE IN THE DYNAMIC GAME WITH FOUR PERIODS (EXPERIMENT 2) FIGHT OR FLIGHT 229 l D o w n o a d e d f r o m h t t p : / / d i r e c t . m i t . e d u / r e s t / l a r t i c e - p d f / / / / 1 0 4 2 2 1 7 1 9 9 6 1 4 0 / r e s t _ a _ 0 0 9 6 1 p d . f b y g u e s t t o n 0 8 S e p e m b e r 2 0 2 3 Left: First twenty rounds. Right: Final twenty rounds. Only observations where a player made a decision to fight or flee are included (omitting observations where a player was waiting when the other moved). Results. Figure 7 shows the timing of actions, which strongly resembles the results of experiment 1. With a nega- tive deterrence value, virtually all action happens in the first period. With a positive deterrence value, many subjects wait until later periods. Compared to the first twenty rounds (left panels), more subjects wait in the final twenty rounds (right panels). The mean waiting time does not increase with ex- perience for k = −6 and does increase for positive deter- rence values (figure A3, appendix C). Moreover, we again observe that some participants act in the first period when k > 0. In line with the theoretical predictions, some subjects
flee just before the endgame, although some do so in period
2 rather than period 3, and very few fight just before the
endgame.

Cifra 4 plots the frequency of battles and escapes by the
weaker player in both experiments. The results are very com-
parable to those of experiment 1. En particular, for positive
values of k, the dynamic game leads to a reduction in battles
and an increase in escapes by the weaker player compared to
the static version. The difference between the static and dy-
namic game is significant in all those cases (Mann-Whitney
prueba, pag < 0.005 in all cases). The main difference with ex- periment 1 is that for a negative k, there is no reduction in battles or increase in escapes compared to the static games (p = 0.898 for battles, p = 0.368 for escapes). This supports the idea that in experiment 1, the decrease in battles and in- crease in escapes are driven by coordination failures: subjects may have attempted to immediately fight but were not always able to precisely time their action.18 In experiment 2, we again observe anomalous early fight- ing if k > 0. The two measures of joy of winning do not
explain this early fighting, while the number of mistakes in
the test questions and the social dominance score do explain
(alguno) of the anomalous behavior (see table A7 in appendix
C). In experiment 2, we do not replicate the finding that risk
aversion correlates with fleeing before the endgame (ver tabla
A8 in appendix C).19

18A regression analysis confirms these results. The interaction effects be-
tween dynamic timing and positive deterrence values are statistically sig-
nificant, indicating that the effect of dynamic timing on battles and escapes
matters more for k > 0 (table A6 in appendix C).

19If we combine the data of both experiments, risk aversion is signif-
icantly correlated with fleeing before the endgame and dominance with
early fighting. See tables A9 and A10 in appendix C.

230

THE REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS

V. Conclusión

en este documento, we present a dynamic fight-or-flight game that
makes sense of a large range of conflicts observed in prac-
tice. We highlight the crucial role that the deterrence value
plays that players receive when the other player successfully
escapes. If it is negative, players will act in a split-second.
When it is positive, players will be patient and try to make
the other player flee. An interesting feature of the analysis is
that if the deterrence value is positive but not too large, sorting
will occur. Eso es, the weakest players will flee just before
the end, and thereby avoid costly battles. De este modo, this paper
clarifies how time can help people reach better outcomes in
dynamic games, even when time is not costly. The important
role of the deterrence value is confirmed in our experiments.
Compared to a static version of the game, players are better
able to avoid costly battles.

In the experiment, we find support for a behavioral version
of the model that allows for heterogeneous risk aversion. En
agreement with this model, sorting occurs for a wider range
of situations than predicted by the model with standard pref-
erences. Además, subjects who appear to be more risk
averse in an independent task tend to be the ones who more
frequently flee early, although we do not replicate this in
the follow-up experiment. We also observe an interesting
anomaly. A fraction of the players choose to fight early even
in situations where the strategic incentive is to be patient. Nuestro
conjecture is that some subjects come to the interaction with
a homegrown notion that it generally pays off to strike early
in contests. Over time, this costly behavior diminishes but
does not disappear.

We think that our setup provides a lower limit of the amount
of sorting that can be expected in practice. In our game, play-
ers manage to sort even though they do not receive any sen-
sory input about the ability of the opponent. En particular
when there is a strategic incentive to wait, sensory cues before
or during the contest may help players to avoid costly fights.
In an actual display, body odor or a high-pitched voice may re-
veal fear and help identify the weaker player (Mujica-Parodi
et al., 2009; Sobin & alperto, 1999). A dominant performance
in a television show by a candidate running for presidential
office may convince a weaker opponent that it is better to flee
early. En el futuro, artificial intelligence may further help
players to agree on how they are ranked in terms of ability
before they engage in a costly battle. Relevant information
about the opponent’s ability will also affect players’ decisions
when the deterrence value is negative. Sin embargo, in such sit-
uations, a positive frequency of battles cannot be avoided.
Even when information about the opponent helps players to
perfectly forecast who will win the fight, the stronger player
will still want to catch the weaker player in a battle. We think
that extending the analysis in this direction is an interesting
avenue for future research.

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