Game Theory for Applied Economists by Robert S. Gibbons (PDF)

Description

This book introduces one of the most powerful tools of modern economics to a wide audience: those who will later construct or consume game-theoretic models. Robert Gibbons addresses scholars in applied fields within economics who want a serious and thorough discussion of game theory but who may have found other works overly abstract. Gibbons emphasizes the economic applications of the theory at least as much as the pure theory itself; formal arguments about abstract games play a minor role. The applications illustrate the process of model building–of translating an informal description of a multi-person decision situation into a formal game-theoretic problem to be analyzed. Also, the variety of applications shows that similar issues arise in different areas of economics, and that the same game-theoretic tools can be applied in each setting. In order to emphasize the broad potential scope of the theory, conventional applications from industrial organization have been largely replaced by applications from labor, macro, and other applied fields in economics. The book covers four classes of games, and four corresponding notions of equilibrium: static games of complete information and Nash equilibrium, dynamic games of complete information and subgame-perfect Nash equilibrium, static games of incomplete information and Bayesian Nash equilibrium, and dynamic games of incomplete information and perfect Bayesian equilibrium.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐I finally got around to reading this after purchasing it over a decade ago. Game Theory for Applied Economists provides the reader with an approachable introduction to game theory through the description and solution of various canonical situations which can be analyzed through a game theoretic lens. The approach is not overly mathematical and the author tries to build intuition over focusing on the formal structure but includes proofs where required and develops formal definitions when needed. The topics included in the book are static games of complete information, dynamic games of complete information and the subsequent analysis of such games with incomplete information.The book starts out with analyzing game theories most famous candidate of how pareto inferior outcomes can arise naturally, the prisoner’s dilemma. The author describes the analysis and brings in ideas formalizing strictly dominated strategies and subsequently iterated elimination of strictly dominated strategies. The author brings introduces ideas like strategy space, common knowledge, payoff profiles and Nash equilibrium. The author then goes on to reintroduce elementary microeconomic situations like the duopoly and how to solve such games using a game theory lens. The author introduces mixed strategies as well and gives an overview of fixed point ideas associated with the proof of an existence of a Nash equilibrium with mixed strategies. The author then gets into dynamic games and backwards induction techniques. The use of subgame solutions to get to overall game solutions is discussed and the author discusses Nash equilibriums with discounting payoffs. The author uses examples of bank runs and wage bargaining to reinforce the practical economic situations which game theory can be used as a tool to analyze. The author then gets into static games of incomplete information and starts to bring in Bayesian ideas and expectations of utility over a probability space. The subject matter is approachable but the lack of formal definitions earlier in the book starts to makes the introduction of new ideas slightly more cumbersome. The author brings up some ideas from auctions to help the reader understand decision making under uncertainty. I don’t love the treatment as I think it would be better to first describe mechanism design for auctions that eliminate the need for Bayesian logic and then introduce the Bayesian game (ie Vickrey auction mechanism to start vs traditional auction mechanism to then analyze). The author then gets into multi-period games of incomplete information including the job market where worker production is noisy and monetary policy with adaptive inflation expectations. The treatment gives the reader a lot of concrete examples to think about modeling under uncertainty; the natural state of the world.Game theory for applied economists is a very readable introduction to game theory. For a reader looking for examples of how to use game theory this book is good, for a reader trying to trying to understand formal game theory better it is not as good. The use of economic examples is prioritized which is definitely useful for building intuition but it has its drawbacks for a reader moving on to read other literature where the reader will likely find themselves unprepared. Definitely recommend the book for someone looking for a quick practical introduction to the subject but for further study the book needs to be supplemented.

⭐The book was good, but the content was 100% the same with another book called A Primer in Game Theory. Unfortunately, I bought both.

⭐This book is very readable. I do not come from an economic background, but I still found the book easy to understand. Lost a star because there are a ridiculous number of typos, many of which are mathematically incorrect.

⭐I got this book as an accompaniment for a Game Theory class I am taking currently. I enjoyed reading this on the side. It was not as easy to read as my assigned textbook but I felt that it went into greater depth about certain subjects vs. the traditional game theory book.I would recommend this for Econ majors (such as myself) or those with a particular penchant for Game Theory.

⭐Pretty useful as a beginner text. Got my used copy promptly.

⭐This is a nice book on game theory if you’re not very mathematically inclined. It was recommended as a supplementary text for a graduate-level course that I took, and I enjoyed it as such. But for a more thorough introductory text for undergrads, I strongly recommend Osborne’s

⭐. This one is preferable only if you’re allergic to rudimentary set theory.

⭐Easy to read. This is an ENTRY level book to Game Theory, but that is what I wanted. I read it over winter break and it helped lay the foundation for me to ace a PhD level Game Theory course.

⭐Great book with just the right balance between game theory and applied economics. Don’t get it if you really want hard core game theory proofs. There are plenty of equations and some proofs, but the real focus is on how the results of game theory can be applied to economic problems.

⭐Very clear book with clear examples that helps me a lot to understand Game Theory

⭐still waiting for my copy to arrive but i’ve had the fortune to come across this material when i was in university. it’s an excellent and very thorough book. it is honestly one of the most important texts i have ever read

⭐The book is a tad bit too technical for an introductory game theory class, however, they content is indispensable for anyone who wishes to pursue higher levels of study in Game Theory.

⭐The book is as described. It was not in a plastic, but the condition seems alright to me (not damaged).

⭐ミクロ経済学を一通り勉強した人が、そこでちょこっと出てきたゲーム理論についてもっと知りたいと思ったときに読む本。かなり高度な内容まで平易な文章で書かれています。章末の練習問題がいい。

⭐

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