English

Aggregate Efficiency in Games

Theoretical Economics 2026-02-17 v3

Abstract

We show that, in large population games, decentralized information aggregation generically corrects for individual-level biases. This establishes a new testable aggregate efficiency benchmark where the behavior of boundedly rational agents mimics that of fully rational agents. However, we find that structural economic forces such as strategic network formation and profit-maximizing platforms can systematically select pathological environments to exploit individuals' biases, thereby causing aggregate inefficiencies. We characterize these inefficiencies in monopoly and labor markets. Our findings therefore suggest that policy should shift focus from correcting individuals' behavior to monitoring and regulating information structures.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2501.13019,
  title  = {Aggregate Efficiency in Games},
  author = {Florian Mudekereza},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.13019},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

Fixed some matrix-display bugs and typos

R2 v1 2026-06-28T21:13:49.609Z