Communication games, sequential equilibrium, and mediators

TL;DR

This paper proves that in both synchronous and asynchronous systems, $k$-resilient sequential equilibria with mediators can be implemented without mediators under certain conditions, matching known lower bounds.

Contribution

It establishes the exact bounds for implementing $k$-resilient sequential equilibria without mediators in synchronous and asynchronous systems, improving previous results.

Findings

In synchronous systems, $n > 3k$ suffices for mediator-free implementation.

In asynchronous systems, $n > 4k$ suffices for mediator-free implementation.

Results match lower bounds and improve previous bounds for $k=1$ case.

Abstract

We consider $k$-resilient sequential equilibria, strategy profiles where no player in a coalition of at most $k$ players believes that it can increase its utility by deviating, regardless of its local state. We prove that all $k$-resilient sequential equilibria that can be implemented with a trusted mediator can also be implemented without the mediator in a synchronous system of $n$ players if $n >3k$. In asynchronous systems, where there is no global notion of time and messages may take arbitrarily long to get to their recipient, we prove that a $k$-resilient sequential equilibrium with a mediator can be implemented without the mediator if $n > 4k$. These results match the lower bounds given by Abraham, Dolev, and Halpern (2008) and Geffner and Halpern (2023) for implementing a Nash equilibrium without a mediator (which are easily seen to apply to implementing a sequential equilibrium) and improve the results of Gerardi, who showed that, in the case that $k=1$, a sequential equilibrium can be implemented in synchronous systems if $n \ge 5$.