Introducing Game Theory: A Graphic Guide (Graphic Guides)

by Ivan Pastine

Game theory is useful whenever there is strategic interaction, whenever how well you do depends on the actions of others as well as your own choices. In these cases, people’s actions are influenced by their expectations of others’ actions.

One way out of the free-rider problem is to change the payoffs in the payoff matrix. Early childhood parental involvement and schooling can impose a moral cost when engaged in non-cooperative behaviour (such as leaving dishes in the sink).

Doomsday Device is only useful as a deterrent if the potential attacker knows of its existence. As soon as it needs to be used, it has already failed its purpose.

The examples in Gibbons’ book lean towards economics, but the tools are useful for any field. *This same book is marketed in the US as Game Theory for Applied Economists, and is published by Princeton University Press.