In a high-stakes fight, being able to think faster is mathematically more valuable than having a bigger bank account.
New economic modeling shows that poorer groups can win wars of attrition against wealthy opponents simply by making decisions faster. If your 'decision cycle' is tight enough, you can exhaust a slow-moving giant regardless of their resource advantage.
Inside the Loop: Decision Speed, Attrition, and Asymmetric Conflict
SSRN · 6453882
<div> <p>Why does the weaker side sometimes win a war of attrition against a vastly richer opponent? Contest theory has studied resource asymmetry in rich detail but has always assumed that both players observe, decide, and act on the same schedule. This paper breaks that symmetry by introducing decision-cycle speed as a new dimension of asymmetry. One player re-optimizes every period; the other is locked into a committed posture for multiple periods. When the environment shifts between decision