Games of Strategy

by Dixit, Avinash K.; Skeath, Susan

• ISBN13: 9780393924992
• ISBN10: 0393924998
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-01-27
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

The text has been carefully updated for this Second Edition, including thorough revisions of the sections on sequential- and simultaneous-move games and those on voting and auctioning. This is an inviting introduction to game theory, offering students an engaging, comprehensive view of the discipline without assuming a prior knowledge of economics or complex mathematics (uses only high school algebra). Additionally, instructors will find a variety of useful pedagogical tools in the accompanying Instructor's Manual, including student exercises and suggested classroom games and experiments.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Second Edition	xix
PART ONE Introduction and General Principles
Basic Ideas and Examples	3	(14)
What is a Game of Strategy?	4	(2)
Some Examples and Stories of Strategic Games	6	(8)
Which Passing Shot?	6	(1)
The GPA Rat Race	7	(2)
``We Can't Take the Exam, Because We Had a Flat Tire''	9	(1)
Why Are Professors So Mean?	10	(1)
Roommates and Families on the Brink	11	(2)
The Dating Game	13	(1)
Our Strategy for Studying Games of Strategy	14	(3)
How to Think About Strategic Games	17	(28)
Decisions Versus Games	18	(2)
Classifying Games	20	(7)
Are the Moves in the Game Sequential or Simultaneous?	20	(1)
Are the Players' Interests in Total Conflict or Is There Some Commonality?	21	(1)
Is the Game Played Once or Repeatedly, and with the Same or Changing Opponents?	22	(1)
Do the Players Have Full or Equal Information?	23	(1)
Are the Rules of the Game Fixed or Manipulable?	24	(1)
Are Agreements to Cooperate Enforceable?	25	(2)
Some Terminology and Background Assumptions	27	(9)
Strategies	27	(1)
Payoffs	28	(1)
Rationality	29	(2)
Common Knowledge of Rules	31	(2)
Equilibrium	33	(1)
Dynamics and Evolutionary Games	34	(1)
Observation and Experiment	35	(1)
The Uses of Game Theory	36	(2)
The Structure of the Chapters to Follow	38	(7)
Summary	41	(1)
Key Terms	41	(1)
Exercises	42	(3)
PART TWO Concepts and Techniques
Games with Sequential Moves	45	(38)
Game Trees	46	(4)
Nodes, Branches, and Paths of Play	46	(1)
Uncertainty and ``Nature's Moves''	46	(2)
Outcomes and Payoffs	48	(1)
Strategies	48	(1)
Tree Construction	49	(1)
Solving Games by Using Trees	50	(5)
Adding More Players	55	(5)
Order Advantages	60	(1)
Adding More Moves	61	(8)
Tic-Tac-Toe	61	(2)
Chess	63	(6)
Evidence Concerning Rollback	69	(3)
Strategies in the Survivor© Game	72	(11)
Summary	77	(1)
Key Terms	78	(1)
Exercises	78	(5)
Simultaneous-Move Games with Pure Strategies I: Discrete Strategies	83	(150)
Depicting Simultaneous-Move Games with Discrete Strategies	84	(2)
Nash Equilibrium	86	(4)
Some Further Explanation of the Concept of Nash Equilibrium	87	(2)
Nash Equilibrium As a System of Beliefs and Choices	89	(1)
Dominance	90	(8)
Both Players Have Dominant Strategies	92	(1)
One Player Has a Dominant Strategy	93	(2)
Successive Elimination of Dominated Strategies	95	(3)
Best-Response Analysis	98	(1)
The Minimax Method for Zero-Sum Games	99	(2)
Three Players	101	(4)
Multiple Equilibria in Pure Strategies	105	(6)
No Equilibrium in Pure Strategies	111	(122)
Summary	113	(1)
Key Terms	114	(1)
Exercises	114	(6)
Appendix: Some General Definitions	120