Games 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.


Ken Binmore is Emeritus Professor of Economics at University College, London. He has held Chairs in Economics at the London School of Economics and the University of Michigan.



Preface


1. The Name of the Game


2. Chance


3. Time


4. Convention


5. Reciprocity


6. Information


7. Auctions


8. Biology


9. Bargaining and Coalitions


10. Puzzles and Paradoxes

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Distributor: Oxford University Press USA
Publication Date: 01-01-2008
Pages: 144
Measurements: 4.500in X 6.800in X 0.600in X 0.381lb