Game Theory: A Very Short IntroductionGames are everywhere: Drivers maneuvering in heavy traffic are playing a driving game. Bargain hunters bidding on eBay are playing an auctioning game. The supermarket's price for corn flakes is decided by playing an economic game. This Very Short Introduction offers a succinct tour of the fascinating world of game theory, a ground-breaking field that analyzes how to play games in a rational way. Ken Binmore, a renowned game theorist, explains the theory in a way that is both entertaining and non-mathematical yet also deeply insightful, revealing how game theory can shed light on everything from social gatherings, to ethical decision-making, to successful card-playing strategies, to calculating the sex ratio among bees. With mini-biographies of many fascinating, and occasionally eccentric, founders of the subject--including John Nash, subject of the movie A Beautiful Mind--this book offers a concise overview of a cutting-edge field that has seen spectacular successes in evolutionary biology and economics, and is beginning to revolutionize other disciplines from psychology to political science. About the Series: Oxford's Very Short Introductions offers concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects--from Islam to Sociology, Politics to Classics, and Literary Theory to History. Not simply a textbook of definitions, each volume provides trenchant and provocative--yet always balanced and complete--discussions of the central issues in a given topic. Every Very Short Introduction gives a readable evolution of the subject in question, demonstrating how it has developed and influenced society. Whatever the area of study, whatever the topic that fascinates the reader, the series has a handy and affordable guide that will likely prove indispensable. |
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Alice and Bob Alice’s average backward induction basin of attraction behave behaviour best reply Bob and Carol Bob’s chance move Chapter Chicken choice choose coalition common knowledge convention cooperative game dollar dominated strategy Driving Game economists equally evolution evolutionary example fallacy Figure folk theorem game tree gene Hamilton’s Hawk-Dove Game housework human Hymenoptera indefinitely repeated John Nash Kidnap Matching Pennies maximin payoff maximin strategies maximize Minigame minimax theorem mixed equilibrium mixed strategy Nash bargaining solution Nash equilibrium Neumann offer outcome paradox payoff table play hawk players whose type Poker population predict prefer probability problem punish pure strategies rational players reason repeated game repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma replicator dynamics shows signal social sometimes species stable set Stag Hunt Game subgame subgame-perfect equilibrium symmetric games telecom tell theorists TIT-FOR-TAT toy model Trust Minigame Ultimatum Game Ultimatum Minigame utils valuation vote winning zero-sum game