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We explore the influence of cognitive ability and judgment on strategic behavior in the beauty contest game (where the Nash equilibrium action is zero). Using the level- k model of bounded rationality, cognitive ability and judgment both predict higher level strategic thinking. However, individuals with better judgment choose zero less frequently, and we uncover a novel dynamic mechanism that sheds light on this pattern. Taken together, our results indicate that fluid (i.e., analytical) intelligence is a primary driver of strategic level- k thinking, while facets of judgment that are distinct from fluid intelligence drive the lower inclination of high judgment individuals to choose zero. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The imperfect coordination of expectations and actions is a central theme running through Keynes's General Theory. Incorporating this theme into mainstream macroeconomics, however, has proved to be a difficult endeavour. In particular, attempts to accommodate coordination failures within Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) models through multiple equilibria and "dynamic" indeterminacy, while promising in the 1990s, were gradually abandoned in the 2000s. Since then, the "New Keynesian" framework has come to dominate macroeconomic modelling. And since the coordination of agents is not at issue in this latter framework, mainstream macroeconomics has seemed to leave the coordination theme out of its focus, if not its scope. In this paper, we challenge this perception and argue that the coordination theme is actually alive and well. We especially present two recent research programmes which, while belonging to the DSGE paradigm, give pride of place to coordination failures and share a common objective: providing, within the class of DSGE models, an alternative to the New Keynesian framework that would involve the most important ideas emerging from Keynes's General Theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We extend the beauty contest game to two dimensions: each player chooses two numbers to be as close as possible to certain target values, which are linear functions of the averages of the two number choices. One of the targets depends on the averages of both numbers, making the choices interrelated. We report on an experiment where we vary the eigenvalues of the associated two-dimensional linear system and find that subjects can learn the Pareto-optimal Nash Equilibrium of the system if both eigenvalues are stable and cannot learn it if both eigenvalues are unstable. Interestingly, subjects can also learn it if the system has the saddlepath property – with one stable and one unstable eigenvalue — but only if the one unstable eigenvalue is negative. We show theoretically that our results cannot be explained by homogeneous level-k models where all agents apply the same level k depth of reasoning to their choices, including the naïve learning model. However, our results can be explained by a mixed cognitive-levels model, including the adaptive learning model. We also run a horserace between many models used in the literature with the winner being a simple mixed model with levels 0, 1, and equilibrium reasoning.

We study the economic impacts of adopting harmonized accounting standards when firms' investments exhibit beauty contest features. We model harmonized accounting standards as common/correlated noises in firms' accounting reports. We show that while more harmonized accounting standards have ambiguous effects on the reports' informativeness in representing firms' underlying fundamentals, they always reduce their usefulness in forecasting aggregate investments. Therefore, the stronger the beauty contest features, the more important the forecasts about the aggregate investment, thus calling for less harmonized accounting standards. We also find that, absent beauty contest features, mandatory adoption of harmonized accounting standards can be unnecessary; however, such a mandate is warranted when beauty contest features are strong as firms, when left on their own, would not voluntarily do so. Taken together, our results provide both a justification for and identification of an unintended consequence of the recent mandates toward adopting harmonized accounting standards. JEL Classifications: M41; M48. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economics and Finance undergraduate students from four cohorts played LUPI, a game rewarding the person submitting the lowest unique positive integer, for a small bonus in an exam. Some months later, they played this game again with financial incentives and took a cognitive reflection test (CRT). We find that submitted responses to different configurations of LUPI are correlated with short-term (i.e., exam grade) and medium-term (i.e., final grade and GPA) academic performance, as well as the score in the CRT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital transmissions in Albania began in July 2004. Despite developing outside of any legal framework, terrestrial digital television quickly became an important aspect of the Albanian media market. Albania ratified the 2006 Geneva Convention on the digitalization of terrestrial TV broadcasters, and efforts to regulate the digitalization of audiovisual media began in 2007 with the approval of the first law for digital transmissions. The process of digitalization faced strong opposition due to pressure from existing television operators and their political connections. These obstacles caused significant delays, so the June 2015 deadline for the switchover was missed, and the finalization of the process failed to address the issues of illegality and concentration that plagued the Albanian audiovisual media market. Despite the existence of simple and enforceable legal ownership restrictions under the 2013 media law, the close connections between audiovisual operators, politics, and the justice system, allowed the market to become concentrated in the hands of a few owners, damaging media pluralism in the country and hindering the development of democracy. According to the European Commission's 2022 annual report on Albania, the country is moderately prepared in the field of freedom of expression and media independence. The quality of journalism is hampered by the intersection of business and political interests, as well as the concentration and lack of transparency of media funding. The report notes that the lack of independence of the regulatory authority undermines media freedom in the country and calls on Albania to ensure compliance with European standards on transparency and limitation of media ownership, state advertisements, and other related issues. The purpose of this article is to highlight the issues and analyze the problems that arose during the digitalization process and the implementation of the law on audiovisual media in Albania. By providing a clear overview of the situation in the Albanian audiovisual media market, this article aims to address the challenges that the legislature must confront in the future, by the obligations arising from Albania's negotiations for membership in the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economics and Finance undergraduate students from four cohorts played LUPI, a game rewarding the person submitting the lowest unique positive integer, for a small bonus in an exam. Some months later, they played this game again with financial incentives and took a cognitive reflection test (CRT). We find that submitted responses to different configurations of LUPI are correlated with short-term (i.e., exam grade) and medium-term (i.e., final grade and GPA) academic performance, as well as the score in the CRT.

Keynes' beauty contest story (Keynes, 1936, p. 156) is a metaphor illuminating how speculators' decisions on stock markets are guided by expectations' expectations. Keynes' idea has been implemented in laboratory experiments since the early nineties using a guessing game design with a contracting factor usually smaller than 1. That means that 1 is the unique Nash equilibrium if the choice space is given by the natural numbers from 1 to 100. In laboratory experiments it has been found out that a part of the participants learns to discover the theoretical equilibrium, but, having discovered it, not necessarily will choose it, taking into account the expected bounded rational behavior of the other participants. The theoretical equilibrium, however, plays the role of an anchor for those participants' decisions. In our present study we pose the question what will happen in a guessing game if there is not a unique equilibrium, but a multiplicity of equilibria. Furthermore, we introduce (a)symmetric strategy space, with chosen numbers around the center of either zero, in the negative or positive interval. In our experimental setting, each integer of the choice set is an equilibrium of the guessing game if the contracting factor is chosen equal to 1. Since real stock market speculators also do not have a unique equilibrium anchor when deciding on selling or buying an asset, our procedure is in line with Keynes' original idea. Game theory suggests that participants might use mixed strategies, leading to a stochastic sequence of choices in iterated experiments. In contrast, our exprimental evidence shows recurrent patterns in the time series of iterated choices instead. The aim of our study is to develop and to test hypotheses explaining this evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate how the precision of public and private information can be measured and their welfare implications can be assessed. To this end, we develop and apply a procedure to test welfare results from a beauty and nonbeauty contest model based on survey forecasts of interest rates in a large country sample over an extended period of time. In most countries, interest rate forecasts are unbiased. In half of the countries, a higher precision of public information regarding interest rates increases welfare. This applies in particular to small open and emerging market economies. During forward guidance, public information is less precise than private information. On average, forecasters place greater weight on public than private information and rapidly correct errors contained in private information, while errors in public information last over the whole forecast horizon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess the biomechanics of the foot in beauty pageant contestants wearing shoes that increase calcaneal height. Plantar pressure distribution and postural balance were examined in women after one hour of wearing high-heeled shoes. Methods: Foot arch measurements were conducted using EPSR1. Based on these measurements, 18 of the 19 tested women were diagnosed with significant pes cavus. Results: The experiment revealed a significant reduction in the excessively high metatarsal arch of both feet. The mean load on the metatarsus measured at rest was 0.0% in both feet, and it increased by 0.6% in the left leg ( p ≤ 0.022; Z = 2.293) and by 2.7% in the right leg ( p ≤ 0.023; Z = 2.271). These results suggest that excessive stretching of the plantar fascia and impaired function of the short muscles of the foot lead to a temporary reduction in the arch of the foot. This phenomenon can be compared to stretching a bowstring and its return to the shortest length under static conditions. A statistical analysis of the results of stabilographic measurements revealed significant changes only in the left foot barycenter. An analysis of the ability to maintain postural balance revealed that the observed changes contributed to postural destabilization at p ≤ 0.011 and Z = 2.535. Conclusions: Further research involving electromyography tests is needed to examine plantar muscle tension during isotonic contractions. The duration of the exercise-induced reduction in pes cavus should also be determined for therapeutic purposes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines and analyses the process of "inventing" Kyustendil Spring Day in the context of socialist festivity. Based on the local tradition of welcoming spring in Kyustendil, which integrates pre-Christian rituals related to the day of spring solstice, the Day of Forty Martyrs of Sebaste in the Orthodox calendar and Mladentsi in the folk calendar, the holiday is gradually "domesticated" by the socialist authorities in the late 1960s, purged of its religious elements and re-invented -- engaged with "new, socialist content". Having combined various festive forms, symbols and rituals and occupying various urban spaces throughout the years, the holiday eventually established itself as a successful "invented tradition" during the socialist period, including several elements: a beauty contest, a ceremony for handing over the symbols of spring, a carnival procession, a public celebration on the Hisarlaka hill above the town, and accompanying cultural and sports events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective/Context: This article studies the crime committed by María Teresa Landa, the first national beauty queen, against her husband, General Moisés Vidal, on Sunday, August 25, 1929, in Mexico City. It also analyzes the criminal trial that followed, which set the stage for essential debates on the condition of women and frankly highlighted the confrontation between tradition and modernity in post-revolutionary Mexico. Methodology: The text describes the event and analyzes the context and the legal and emotional considerations that led to the acquittal of the accused. Originality: Although the Landa case has been the subject of numerous studies, historiography has not dealt with the emotional aspects of the process, which allow us to delve into details of Landa’s situation and discover new elements that accompanied her acquittal by the authorities. Conclusions: María Teresa Landa was acquitted by a popular jury that defined her action as a crime of passion. However, the trial revealed the reluctance to accept that a woman could avenge her honor. As a great paradox, the Government and the post-revolutionary society, which promoted so many changes, refused to accept any alteration in the political and cultural status of Mexican women.

Lay intuition suggests that some people are better than others at strategic social interaction. Nonetheless, identifying reliable predictors of individual differences in negotiation performance has been difficult. In this investigation, we hypothesized that an individuals' skill in understanding the structure of socially interdependent situations, and in best responding to others' likely behavior in such situations, should predict their negotiation performance. We adapted existing and novel social guessing games to measure such skills. In a series of studies with students and business executives in Russia and Sweden, performance in the guessing games predicted better individual outcomes and better joint outcomes in dyadic negotiations. Guessing‐game performance remained predictive of both outcomes after proxies for general mental ability were controlled for. Potential applications to larger‐scale phenomena are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bu çalışma, sosyo-kültürel bir yaklaşımla 1929-1933 yılları arasında Cumhuriyet Gazetesi tarafından düzenlenen güzellik yarışmalarını bir halkla ilişkiler çalışması olarak ele alarak yapılan ilk yarışmaya ilişkin haber metinlerinin milliyetçi söylem tarafından nasıl biçimlendirildiği ve yarışmanın bir halkla ilişkiler çalışması olarak nasıl işlevlendirildiğini ortaya çıkarmak amacını taşımaktadır. Bu amaçla, 1929 yılında düzenlenen ilk güzellik yarışmasının ilan edildiği 4 Şubat 1929 tarihi ile yarışmanın sonuçlandığı 4 Eylül 1929 tarihleri arasında Cumhuriyet Gazetesinde yayınlanan ilk sayfa haberleri doküman taraması ile derlenmiş, toplanan verilerden güzellik yarışmasına dair haber metinleri; milliyetçilik söyleminin temel argümanları açısından değerlendirilmiş, milliyetçi söylemin yarışmanın anlamına olan etkisi belirlenmeye çalışılmıştır. İnceleme sonunda “Biz/Onlar İkilemi”, “Diğer Uluslarla Eşitlik” ve “Kolektif Katılım” kategorilerinin ön plana çıktığı görülmüş, yarışmanın milli bir mesele olarak konumlandırıldığı, uluslararası güzellik yarışmasına bir Türk güzeli göndermenin modern milletler arasına girmek ile eşit gösterildiği sonuçlarına ulaşılmıştır.

We propose a unified framework bridging the gap between team and competition issues in price and quantity games, played by producers of either substitutes or complements, when information is imperfect and dispersed. We reconsider the social value of private and public information in this context and compare the outcomes of the two types of games in terms of equilibrium and social welfare. By parting with full cooperation, the competition motive fitted into the payoffs introduces a strategy distortion and, when information is dispersed, an informational distortion, both increasing with the intensity of competition. The former affects the response to the expected value of the fundamental, and the latter translates into an inefficiently low (high) weight on public information under strategic complementarity (substitutability). Contrary to the latter, which vanishes in the absence of the competition motive, the former is eliminated, under strategic complementarity and dispersed information, at some positive strength of the competition motive, decreasing with the information quality. This disparity creates a trade-off between the minimization of each distortion. As to the social value of public information, it is always positive, while that of private information may be negative, again under strategic complementarity, if competition is intense and the quality of private information relatively poor. Finally, it is more profitable to play under strategic substitutability, except possibly for an intermediate range of the intensity of competition if the quality of private information is again relatively poor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper contribution is twofold. It introduces heterogeneous information in a strategic delegation game of a differentiated oligopoly with price competition and it thus provides a micro-founded illustration of a beauty contest, in which the relative weight put on the competition motive of the payoffs is not exogenous but may be manipulated by the players. The conflict between the competition and the fundamental motives, already present in an oligopolistic setting under perfect information, is exacerbated when information is dispersed. A conflict arises also in this case between the competition and the coordination motives, ending up in the undervalueing of public information. We show how firm owners ease these conflicts by opting for some cooperation, thus moderating the competitive toughness displayed by their managers. By doing so, they also enhance the managers' concern for coordination and consequently heighten the weight put on public relative to private information. • We use a strategic delegation game of a duopoly with heterogeneous information. • We endogenize in a microfounded beauty contest the weight on the competition motive. • We show how cooperation taming competition enhances the concern for coordination. • The equilibrium degree of cooperation raises with private information precision. • The equilibrium degree of cooperation raises with structural competitive intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study a simple model of similarity-based global cumulative imitation in symmetric games with large and ordered strategy sets and a salient winning player. We show that the learning model explains behavior well in both field and laboratory data from one such "winner-takes-all" game: the lowest unique positive integer game in which the player that chose the lowest number not chosen by anyone else wins a fixed prize. We corroborate this finding in three other winner-takes-all games and discuss under what conditions the model may be applicable beyond this class of games. Theoretically, we show that global cumulative imitation without similarity weighting results in a version of the replicator dynamic in winner-takes-all games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is increasing debate on whether official-sector stress tests are fit for purpose and deliver what they are designed for. In the European Union, this discussion focuses not only on the costs and benefits of such a large-scale bottom-up exercise and on the possible options to improve its usefulness for banks, supervisors and the general public, but also on exploring ways to make it less burdensome. This paper discusses whether some improvements to the design of the EU-wide stress test could better align the incentives of the different stakeholders involved. In particular, the objective is to understand whether there is room for mitigating the beauty contest problem, namely the problem that banks are more interested in showing that they are outperforming others than in identifying actual risks in an adverse scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present article proposes an ethnographic interpretation of the event called « Miss Kayapó », a Beauty Contest, whose participants are indigenous women from the Mebêngôkre (Kayapó) people, located in the Amazon forest, who speak a Jê language. Held in the city of São Félix do Xingu, in the State of Pará (Brazil), before a large number of indigenous and non-indigenous people, the Beauty Contest is an important ritual to understand the inter-ethnic relations between the contemporary Mebêngôkre and the other Brazilian inhabitants of the region. The idea here is to analyze the aesthetical and ritual forms of appropriation mobilized by the group, as well as the ways by which imagery control is exerted by indigenous peoples in the Contest. Another aim is to ethnographically describe the different editions of the Contest, in order to highlight the transformations occurred both in the body techniques apprehended by the candidates, and in the creation and composition of their costumes. The final proposal is to understand the ritual production of Miss Kayapó as a complex character, who holds the ability to embody different aesthetic perspectives.