Game Theory: A Critical Introduction

Game theory now provides the theoretical underpinning for most areas of economics. Moreover, it has spread fast in other disciplines, energised by claims that it represents an opportunity to unify the social sciences, to found a rational theory of society on a common bedrock of methodological individualism. The speed of these developments has been remarkable and they have constituted something of a revolution. But the technical demands of the subject often discourage the readers most likely to benefit from engaging with it. This second edition of Shaun Hargreaves-Heap and Yanis Varoufakis's classic text strips away the mystique and lets the reader make up his or her own mind. It combines the thoroughness of a textbook with the critical edge of the first edition as it: explains clearly all the major concepts (e.g. the various forms of Nash's equilibrium, bargaining solutions), as well as their philosophical bearings (e.g. rationality, knowledge, social agency); introduces new, exciting areas of research (e.g. psychological, experimental and evolutionary game theory), which it blends carefully with traditional games (e.g. the prisoner's dilemma, hawk-dove); offers many problems at the end of each chapter, complete with extensive solutions. With an uncompromising commitment to intellectual honesty, it seeks out game theory's strengths and limitations in a bid to draw out the implications of both for any theory of society which relies exclusively on liberal individualism. A new generation of students of game theory will grow to appreciate this superb text whilst fans of the first edition will eagerly devour this long-awaited update.