Epistemic Game Theory
2014-06-24 13:59:53
by Adam Brandenburger, New York University

Monday, June 23, 2014 | 12:30pm - 2:00pm | Room 335, HSBC Business School Building


Abstract


The epistemic approach to game theory makes how players reason about a game a central feature of the theory.  The approach extends the classical definition of a game model to include not only the game matrix or game tree, but also a description of how the players reason about one another (including their reasoning about other players' reasoning and, perhaps, even higher-order reasoning).  With this richer mathematical structure, it becomes possible to determine the implications of how players reason for how a game is played.  Epistemic game theory includes traditional equilibrium-based theory as a special case, but allows for a wide range of non-equilibrium behavior.  In this talk, I will provide an overview of the approach.  I will draw on material from my new book The Language of Game Theory: Putting Epistemics into the Mathematics of Games (World Scientific, 2014).