War of Attrition
Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30
CORE DEFINITION
Both sides compete for the same resource, and whoever persists longer wins, but both sides pay costs over time. This often leads to a 'Pyrrhic victory': the winner's costs exceed the value of the resource.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
Identify negative-sum game traps. In price wars or face-saving contests, the rational strategy is usually to either not participate at all, or if participation is unavoidable, convince the opponent that you have unlimited resources (to scare them off), thereby ending the fight before costs spiral out of control.
Anchor fast decisions
War of Attrition: Both parties compete for the same prize, each choosing how long to persist. The first to exit gets 0; the one who persists to the end gets the prize minus their own costs. There is no pure strategy equilibrium; under mixed strategies, the duration of persistence is random.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/4Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Attritionverified
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