Game Theory in the Social Sciences: A Reader-friendly Guide

Front Cover
Taylor & Francis, Mar 31, 2011 - Business & Economics - 208 pages

Individuals, firms, governments and nations behave strategically, for good and bad. Over the last few decades, game theory has been constructed and progressively refined to become the major tool used by social scientists to understand, predict and regulate strategic interaction among agents who often have conflicting interests. In the surprisingly anodyne jargon of the theory, they ‘play games’. This book offers an introduction to the basic tools of game theory and an overview of a number of applications to real-world cases, covering the areas of economics, politics and international relations. Each chapter is accompanied by some suggestions about further reading.

 

Contents

a bit of history
1
2 What is a game?
11
3 Solving a game
21
4 Understanding economics
47
5 Repeated games and collusive behaviour
69
6 Understanding politics
85
7 Wargames
97
8 Trade security and hegemony
113
9 The role of information
129
10 Bargaining and cooperation
149
Notes
165
Bibliography
173
Index
185
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2011)

Luca Lambertini is Professor of Economics and Vice Dean in the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Bologna, Italy.

Bibliographic information