Stability of Persons’ Pareto Behavior with Respect to Different Mechanisms in Resource Allocation Game Experiments

In the present paper we analyze data obtained in experiments of resource allocation games with two mechanisms: the Yang-Hajek’s mechanism (YH) and mechanism based on the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). Previous research has shown that there is some correlation between consensus achievement and share of certain types of behavior. This paper considers behavior models based on best response and Pareto improvement. The aim of the research was to investigate individuals’ behavior variation on mechanism change. A behavior based on Pareto improvement is demonstrated by players in both mechanisms slightly more often than only in one mechanism. At the same time, more players demonstrate behavior based on best response in either YH or in ADMM than in both mechanisms. Players had an opportunity to subjectively rank mechanisms; dependence between players behavior and subjective ranking is also studied. It is possible that players give higher rank to the mechanism where they behave according to the best-response and Pareto improvement models more often. There can be inverse relationship between the ranking of YH mechanism and the share of Pareto improvement behavior.