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Game Theory and Behavior

Game Theory and Behavior

by Jeffrey Carpenter and Andrea Robbett

$125.00 Hardcover
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728 pp., 8 x 9 in, 150 figures

Hardcover
9780262047296
Published: December 6, 2022
Publisher: The MIT Press

$125.00

eBook
9780262371254
Published: December 6, 2022
Publisher: The MIT Press

$124.99

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An introduction to game theory that offers not only theoretical tools but also the intuition and behavioral insights to apply these tools to real-world situations.

This introductory text on game theory provides students with both the theoretical tools to analyze situations through the logic of game theory and the intuition and behavioral insights to apply these tools to real-world situations. It is unique among game theory texts in offering a clear, formal introduction to standard game theory while incorporating evidence from experimental data and introducing recent behavioral models. Students will not only learn about incentives, how to represent situations as games, and what agents “should” do in these situations, but they will also be presented with evidence that either confirms the theoretical assumptions or suggests a way in which the theory might be updated.

Each chapter begins with a motivating example that can be run as an experiment and ends with a discussion of the behavior in the example. Parts I–IV cover the fundamental “nuts and bolts” of any introductory game theory course, including the theory of games, simple games with simultaneous decision making by players, sequential move games, and incomplete information in simultaneous and sequential move games. Parts V–VII apply the tools developed in previous sections to bargaining, cooperative game theory, market design, social dilemmas, and social choice and voting, while part VIII offers a more in-depth discussion of behavioral game theory models including evolutionary and psychological game theory. Instructor resources include solutions to end-of-chapter exercises and the oTree codes for running the games online.

Jeffrey Carpenter is James Jermain Professor of Political Economy at Middlebury College.

Andrea Robbett is Associate Professor in the Economics Department at Middlebury College.

In Game Theory and Behavior, two veteran experimental economists introduce how the theory of rational behavior compares to observations of actual behavior in an exciting and accessible introduction to game theory and experiments.
Alvin E. Roth, Craig and Susan McCaw Professor of Economics, Stanford University; recipient of the 2012 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics

“This is a rare and important gem: a comprehensive game theory book that expertly centers experimental results and 'evidence-based adaptations,' showing how data have extended standard theory to create something new and better. It richly deserves consideration as the modern text.”
Colin F. Camerer, Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Economics, Caltech

Carpenter and Robbett provide a lucid and comprehensive introduction to game theory. The book uniquely combines formal mathematical models and related experimental evidence. It provides clear insights not only on how individuals should, theoretically, behave in strategic interactions, but also on how they actually behave. Despite its technical nature, the book is written in a remarkably accessible style that will surely be a hit with students anywhere.
Leeat Yariv, Uwe E. Reinhardt Professor of Economics, Princeton University

Game Theory and Behavior is an excellent undergraduate textbook that presents game theoretic concepts in an intuitive, yet precise, way. It goes beyond previous textbooks by showing how the interaction between theory and experimental evidence advances our knowledge about actual human behavior and motivation.
Ernst Fehr, Professor of Economics, University of Zurich

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