factual

Trust Game Cooperation Falsifies Max U

In the anonymous one-shot trust game, Max U predicts the first mover stops the game for the safe equilibrium payoff, yet about half of first movers pass, and two-thirds to three-quarters of second movers reciprocate cooperatively rather than defecting and taking all the money, falsifying the self-interest prediction even with extreme payoffs.

factualpending

Speaker

Vernon Smith

Evidence Quote

we were giving this Max U it's best shot... Well, we were dead wrong. Half of the subjects moved down on that game... two-thirds to three-quarters of those assigned $15 to the first mover and take $25.

Source

Vernon Smith on Adam Smith and the Human EnterpriseEconTalk
Created: 6/13/2026, 12:22:45 AM

My Notes

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