Level-k reasoning in a generalized beauty contest

- We study the predictive power of level-k models in a generalized beauty contest.
- Level-k models are successful in settings close to the standard beauty contest.
- Their performance is significantly lower with asymmetric information.
- Their performance is significantly lower if coordination motive is weak.

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. Their predictive power weakens significantly when either private information is introduced or the importance of the coordination motive is decreased.