Game Theory for the Social Sciences

Game Theory for the Social Sciences
Author: Herve Moulin
Publisher: NYU Press
Total Pages: 291
Release: 1986-10-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0814764231

The second edition of Herve Moulin's highly successful book outlines the fundamental concepts of game theory—one of the most provocative and fruitful applications of mathematics to the human sciences—and demonstrates its uses in economic and political discourse. Thoroughly revised, and now published with an accompanying workbook of 89 exercises, this rigorous yet accessible test explains the uses of game theory in largely nontechnical terms. Moulin carefully discusses the behavioral scenarios underlying the various equilibrium concepts. He provides a self-contained exposition of basic equilibrium concepts for strategic games: perfect (sophisticated) equilibrium, Nash's noncooperative example, Aumann's strong and correlated example, and several versions of the core. The author is concerned less with mathematical refinements than with helping the reader understand the strategic stories backing these concepts. HIs examples therefore give a fair account of the current game models used in economics, politics, and sociology. Addressed here are oligopoly theory, the provision of public gtoods, auctions, voting procedures, and cost allocation problems, as well as the classic prisoner's dilemma, tic-tac-toe, and Marienbad games. Extremely popular in its original French edition and in its first English version, Moulin's excellent introductory text is now, more than ever, the book to answer the essential questions about the application of game theory to the social sciences.

Game Theory in the Social Sciences

Game Theory in the Social Sciences
Author: Luca Lambertini
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 209
Release: 2011-03-31
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 113673760X

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.

Game Theory

Game Theory
Author: Frank C. Zagare
Publisher: SAGE
Total Pages: 100
Release: 1984-07
Genre: Mathematics
ISBN: 9780803920507

Professor Zagare provides methods for analysing the structure of the game; considers zero and nonzero-sum games and the fundamental 'minimax theorem'; and investigates games with more than two players, including the possibility of coalitions between players.

The Bounds of Reason

The Bounds of Reason
Author: Herbert Gintis
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2014-04-20
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0691160848

Game theory is central to understanding human behavior and relevant to all of the behavioral sciences—from biology and economics, to anthropology and political science. However, as The Bounds of Reason demonstrates, game theory alone cannot fully explain human behavior and should instead complement other key concepts championed by the behavioral disciplines. Herbert Gintis shows that just as game theory without broader social theory is merely technical bravado, so social theory without game theory is a handicapped enterprise. This edition has been thoroughly revised and updated. Reinvigorating game theory, The Bounds of Reason offers innovative thinking for the behavioral sciences.

Game Theory and Experimental Games

Game Theory and Experimental Games
Author: Andrew M. Colman
Publisher: Elsevier
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2016-06-06
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1483137147

Game Theory and Experimental Games: The Study of Strategic Interaction focuses on the development of game theory, taking into consideration empirical research, theoretical formulations, and research procedures involved. The book proceeds with a discussion on the theory of one-person games. The individual decision that a player makes in these kinds of games is noted as influential as to the outcome of these games. This discussion is followed by a presentation of pure coordination games and minimal situation. The ability of players to anticipate the choices of others to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome is emphasized. A favorable social situation is also influential in these kinds of games. The text moves forward by presenting studies on various kinds of competitive games. The research studies presented are coupled with empirical evidence and discussion designed to support the claims that are pointed out. The book also discusses several kinds of approaches in the study of games. Voting as a way to resolve multi-person games is also emphasized, including voting procedures, the preferences of voters, and voting strategies. The book is a valuable source of data for readers and scholars who are interested in the exploration of game theories.

Game Theory for Political Scientists

Game Theory for Political Scientists
Author: James D. Morrow
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 400
Release: 2020-05-05
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0691213208

Game theory is the mathematical analysis of strategic interaction. In the fifty years since the appearance of von Neumann and Morgenstern's classic Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (Princeton, 1944), game theory has been widely applied to problems in economics. Until recently, however, its usefulness in political science has been underappreciated, in part because of the technical difficulty of the methods developed by economists. James Morrow's book is the first to provide a standard text adapting contemporary game theory to political analysis. It uses a minimum of mathematics to teach the essentials of game theory and contains problems and their solutions suitable for advanced undergraduate and graduate students in all branches of political science. Morrow begins with classical utility and game theory and ends with current research on repeated games and games of incomplete information. The book focuses on noncooperative game theory and its application to international relations, political economy, and American and comparative politics. Special attention is given to models of four topics: bargaining, legislative voting rules, voting in mass elections, and deterrence. An appendix reviews relevant mathematical techniques. Brief bibliographic essays at the end of each chapter suggest further readings, graded according to difficulty. This rigorous but accessible introduction to game theory will be of use not only to political scientists but also to psychologists, sociologists, and others in the social sciences.

Von Neumann, Morgenstern, and the Creation of Game Theory

Von Neumann, Morgenstern, and the Creation of Game Theory
Author: Robert Leonard
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 421
Release: 2010-06-28
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 052156266X

A reconstruction of the creation of game theory in the twentieth century by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern.

Jane Austen, Game Theorist

Jane Austen, Game Theorist
Author: Michael Suk-Young Chwe
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2014-03-23
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0691162441

How the works of Jane Austen show that game theory is present in all human behavior Game theory—the study of how people make choices while interacting with others—is one of the most popular technical approaches in social science today. But as Michael Chwe reveals in his insightful new book, Jane Austen explored game theory's core ideas in her six novels roughly two hundred years ago—over a century before its mathematical development during the Cold War. Jane Austen, Game Theorist shows how this beloved writer theorized choice and preferences, prized strategic thinking, and analyzed why superiors are often strategically clueless about inferiors. Exploring a diverse range of literature and folktales, this book illustrates the wide relevance of game theory and how, fundamentally, we are all strategic thinkers.