Economics and the Theory of Games

This textbook offers a systematic, self-contained account of the main contributions of modern game theory and its applications to economics. Starting with a detailed description of how to model strategic situations, the discussion proceeds by studying basic solution concepts, their main refinements, games played under incomplete information, and repeated games. For each of these theoretical developments, there is a companion set of applications that cover the most representative instances of game-theoretic analysis in economics, e.g. oligopolistic competition, public goods, coordination failures, bargaining, insurance markets, implementation theory, signaling and auctions. The theory and applications covered in the first part of the book fall under the so-called 'classical' approach to game theory, which is founded on the paradigm of players' unlimited rationality. The second part shifts towards topics that no longer abide by that paradigm. This leads to the study of topics such as the interplay between evolution and rationality.

這本教科書提供了現代博弈論的主要貢獻及其在經濟學中的應用的系統性、自成體系的介紹。從詳細描述如何建模戰略情境開始，討論進一步研究基本解概念、其主要改進、不完全信息下的博弈以及重複博弈。對於這些理論發展，還有一系列相應的應用，涵蓋了經濟學中最具代表性的博弈分析實例，例如寡頭競爭、公共財、協調失敗、談判、保險市場、實施理論、信號和拍賣。本書第一部分涵蓋的理論和應用屬於所謂的“經典”博弈論方法，其基礎是玩家無限理性的範式。第二部分轉向不再遵循該範式的主題。這導致了對進化和理性之間相互作用的研究等主題的探討。