Saturday, January 10, 2009

Strategy or Growth Management for a Sustainable Future

Strategy: An Introduction to Game Theory

Author: Joel Watson

In this innovative textbook, Joel Watson adopts a refreshing new format for teaching game theory to advanced undergraduates. The book is rigorous and mathematically precise but also extremely careful in its focus on using the simplest possible models and least complicated mathematics necessary. Another innovation of the book is the way in incorporates elements of contemporary contract theory into the exposition, in a format that is highly engaging for students and easily adapted to the standard coverage familiar to teachers.



Table of Contents:
Prefacexiii
1Introduction1
Noncooperative Game Theory2
Contract and Cooperative Game Theory4
The Meaning of "Game"5
Part IRepresenting Games7
2The Extensive Form9
Other Examples and Conventions15
Exercises19
3Strategies23
Exercises27
4The Normal Form29
Classic Normal-Form Games30
Interpretation of the Normal Form32
Exercises34
5Beliefs, Mixed Strategies, and Expected Utility38
Exercises40
Part IIAnalyzing Behavior in Static Settings43
6Dominance and Best Response45
Dominance45
The First Strategic Tension and the Prisoners' Dilemma47
The Concept of Efficiency49
Best Response50
Dominance and Best Response Compared52
Exercises55
7Rationalizability and Iterated Dominance58
The Second Strategic Tension61
Exercises63
8Location and Partnership67
A Location Game67
A Partnership Game: Strategic Complementarities70
Exercises76
9Congruous Strategies and Nash Equilibrium79
Congruous Sets81
Nash Equilibrium82
Equilibrium of the Partnership Game86
Coordination and Social Welfare87
The Third Strategic Tension89
Aside: Behavioral Game Theory90
Exercises92
10Oligopoly, Tariffs, and Crime and Punishment95
Cournot Duopoly Model95
Bertrand Duopoly Model97
Tariff Setting by Two Countries98
A Model of Crime and Police99
Exercises100
11Mixed-Strategy Nash Equilibrium104
Exercises106
12Strictly Competitive Games and Security Strategies111
Exercises113
13Contract, Law, and Enforcement in Static Settings115
Complete Contracting in Discretionary Environments119
Contracting with Court-Imposed Breach Remedies122
Exercises127
Part IIIAnalyzing Behavior in Dynamic Settings131
14Details of the Extensive Form133
Exercises136
15Backward Induction and Subgame Perfection137
Sequential Rationality and Backward Induction138
Subgame Perfection141
Exercises145
16Topics in Industrial Organization150
Advertising and Competition150
A Model of Limit Capacity152
Dynamic Monopoly155
Price Guarantees as a Commitment to High Prices159
Exercises161
17Parlor Games165
Exercises167
18Bargaining Problems170
Bargaining: Value Creation and Division170
An Abstract Representation of Bargaining Problems172
An Example174
The Standard Bargaining Solution176
Exercises178
19Analysis of Simple Bargaining Games180
Ultimatum Games: Power to the Proposer180
Two-Period, Alternating-Offer Games: Power to the Patient182
Infinite-Period, Alternating-Offer Game186
Exercises187
20Games with Joint Decisions; Negotiation Equilibrium191
Joint Decisions192
Negotiation Equilibrium194
Example: Contracting for High-Powered Incentives195
Exercises197
21Investment, Hold Up, and Ownership201
Hold Up Example201
Asset Ownership203
Exercises205
22Repeated Games and Reputation210
A Two-Period Repeated Game211
An Infinitely Repeated Game216
The Equilibrium Payoff Set with Low Discounting219
Exercises223
23Collusion, Trade Agreements, and Goodwill227
Dynamic Oligopoly and Collusion227
Enforcing International Trade Agreements229
Goodwill and Trading a Reputation230
Exercises233
Part IVInformation237
24Random Events and Incomplete Information239
Exercises243
25Risk and Incentives in Contracting245
Risk Aversion245
A Principal-Agent Game249
Exercises254
26Bayesian Nash Equilibrium and Rationalizability256
Exercises258
27Trade with Incomplete Information262
Markets and Lemons262
Auctions264
Exercises269
28Perfect Bayesian Equilibrium272
Conditional Beliefs about Types273
Sequential Rationality274
Consistency of Beliefs275
Equilibrium Definition276
Exercises278
29Job-Market Signaling and Reputation282
Jobs and School282
Reputation and Incomplete Information285
Exercises288
Appendices293
AReview of Mathematics295
Sets295
Functions and Calculus297
Probability301
BThe Mathematics of Rationalizability307
Dominance, Best Response, and Correlated Conjectures307
Rationalizability Construction311
Exercises313
Index315

Go to: Problems with Patients or American Forests

Growth Management for a Sustainable Future: Ecological Sustainability as the New Growth Management Focus for the 21st Century

Author: Gabor Zovanyi

Argues that growth management in the United States is an institutionalized form of growth accommodation incongruous with sustainable behavior and that the growth accomodation imperative should be replaced by an imperative of ecological sustainability.

Booknews

After documenting the case for existing global limits to growth, the book takes the position that growth management programs must now be directed at efforts to stop growth. Chapters discuss the growth management context; the evolution of the growth management movement in the United States; the role of the planning profession in growth management; the role of the courts in shaping growth management efforts; and ecological sustainability as the new growth management focus. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.



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