Coevolution with the Genetic Algorithm: Repeated Differentiated Oligopolies

This paper reports results from a project in which Genetic Algorithms (GAs) have been used, first, to derive mappings which may explain the behavior of brand managers in an oligopolistic retail market for coffee; second, to attempt to improve on the historical profits of these brand managers, pitted in weekly competition with each other, vying for sales and profits with their different brands of ground, sealed coffee on the supermarket shelves; and, third, to reveal how the artificial agents’ performance is positively related to their complexity. As well as advancing the practice of GAs, with coevolving populations competing, the work also advances our understanding of modeling players in repeated oligopolistic interactions, or games.