Level-K Reasoning in a Generalized Beauty Contest

Abstract

We study how the predictive power of level-k models changes as we perturb the classical beauty contest setting along two dimensions: the strength of the coordination motive and the information symmetry. We use a variation of the Morris and Shin (2002) model as the unified framework for our study, and find that the predictive power of level-k models varies considerably along these two dimensions. Level-k models are successful in predicting subject behavior in settings with symmetric information and a strong coordination motive. However, the predictive power of level-k models is significantly weakened when private information is introduced or the importance of the coordination motive is decreased.