Ways of learning in a simple economic setting: a comparison

We analyse the capacity of a range of different learning rules to describe actual human behaviour in the experiment on expectation formation in a cobweb model conducted by Hommes et al. [C.H. Hommes, J. Sonnemans, H. van de Velden, Expectations formation in a cobweb economy: some one person experiments. In: D. Delli Gatti, M. Gallegati, A. Kirman (Eds.), Interaction and market structure essays on heterogeneity in economics. Lecture notes in economics and mathematical systems, Springer-Verlag, 2000, p. 253–66]. We find indication of a relative superiority in terms of descriptive capacity of forms of generalised adaptive expectations allowing for endogenous gain parameters.