Strategic Dynamics of Social Mimicry

Abstract

Abstract This chapter develops a game-theoretic model with a view to specifying the nature of the strategic interaction in social mimicry and to producing comparative statics results interpretable for this class of situations. It starts by noting that social mimicry has the underlying structure of a betting game, with mimicry attempts being analogous to bluffing in poker. It then formalizes the model and summarizes the key comparative statics, before discussing evolutionary dynamics and illustrating them in several contexts: fake IDs, taxpayers, IRA operatives, and potential victims of genocide. An important insight is that the rates at which mimicry is attempted and succeeds depend on how much the target (or ‘dupe’) cares about stopping it versus the costs of doing so, and not on how much mimics want to pass or their costs for getting caught trying.