A non-zero-zum War of Attrition

The division of a cake by two players is modelled by means of a game of timing in which the players have a probability of learning when their opponent acts. It is shown that the game has a unique Nash equilibrium when both players are non-noisy but that there are many Nash equilibria including pure ones when at least one of the players is noisy. Explicit expressions for the strategies used in these Nash equilibria are obtained.This work was carried out while Dr. Garnaev was visiting the University of Southampton on a Postdoctoral Fellowship of The Royal Society of London.     

A finite step algorithm via a bimatrix game to a single controller non-zero sum stochastic game

Given a non-zero sum discounted stochastic game with finitely many states and actions one can form a bimatrix game whose pure strategies are the pure stationary strategies of the players and whose penalty payoffs consist of the total discounted costs over all states at any pure stationary pair. It is shown that any Nash equilibrium point of this bimatrix game can be used to find a Nash equilibrium point of the stochastic game whenever the law of motion is controlled by one player. The theorem is extended to undiscounted stochastic games with irreducible transitions when the law of motion is controlled by one player. Examples are worked out to illustrate the algorithm proposed.The work of this author was supported in part by the NSF grants DMS-9024408 and DMS 8802260.     

大博弈中Nash均衡的存在性

研究了具有任意多个局中人的非合作博弈(大博弈)中Nash均衡的存在性.将1969年Ma的截口定理推广得到新的截口定理.用这个新的截口定理进一步证明了:1)大博弈中Nash均衡的存在性;2)纯策略集为紧度量空间而且支付函数为连续函数时,连续大博弈中混合策略Nash均衡的存在性.并且存在性定理推出了2010年Salonen的结果,即此研究结果较Salonen的结论更具普遍意义.     

Stay-in-a-set games

There exists a Nash equilibrium (ε-Nash equilibrium) for every n-person stochastic game with a finite (countable) state space and finite action sets for the players if the payoff to each player i is one when the process of states remains in a given set of states G _i and is zero otherwise. Received: December 2000     

Dynamic pricing with uncertain production cost: An alternating-move approach

This article studies a two-firm dynamic pricing model with random production costs. The firms produce the same perishable products over an infinite time horizon when production (or operation) costs are random. In each period, each firm determines its price and production levels based on its current production cost and its opponent’s previous price level. We use an alternating-move game to model this problem and show that there exists a unique subgame perfect Nash equilibrium in production and pricing decisions. We provide a closed-form solution for the firm’s pricing policy. Finally, we study the game in the case of incomplete information, when both or one of the firms do not have access to the current prices charged by their opponents.     

内生网络环境下具有异质连接费用的局部策略互动

考察内生网络环境下局中人之间的局部策略互动, 网络中的局中人只与直接邻居进行协同对策. 网络生成的过程中, 建立连接的费用是异质的~(具有两种水平), 与采取有效行动的局中人建立连接时执行高水平费用, 与采取风险占优行动的局中人建立连接时执行低水平费用. 在异质连接费用的情形下, 首次较为完整地给出了均衡网络的结构特性和局中人的行动选择, 并分析了费用参数对均衡结果的影响.     

Forward-backward stochastic differential equation games with delay and noisy memory

Abstract

The goal of this paper is to study a stochastic game connected to a system of forward-backward stochastic differential equations (FBSDEs) involving delay and noisy memory. We derive sufficient and necessary maximum principles for a set of controls for the players to be a Nash equilibrium in the game. Furthermore, we study a corresponding FBSDE involving Malliavin derivatives. This kind of equation has not been studied before. The maximum principles give conditions for determining the Nash equilibrium of the game. We use this to derive a closed form Nash equilibrium for an economic model where the players maximize their consumption with respect to recursive utility.     

Infinite horizon noncooperative differential games with nonsmooth costs

For a noncooperative differential game, the value functions of the various players satisfy a system of Hamilton-Jacobi equations. In the present paper, we study a class of infinite-horizon scalar games with either piecewise linear or piecewise smooth costs, exponentially discounted in time. By the analysis of the value functions, we find that results about existence and uniqueness of admissible solutions to the HJ system, and therefore of Nash equilibrium solutions in feedback form, can be recovered as in the smooth costs case, provided the costs are globally monotone. On the other hand, we present examples of costs such that the corresponding HJ system has infinitely many admissible solutions or no admissible solutions at all, suggesting that new concepts of equilibria may be needed to study games with general nonlinear costs.     

Fall back equilibrium

Fall back equilibrium is a refinement of the Nash equilibrium concept. In the underlying thought experiment each player faces the possibility that, after all players decided on their action, his chosen action turns out to be blocked. Therefore, each player has to decide beforehand on a back-up action, which he plays in case he is unable to play his primary action.     

基于再保险人分担理赔费用的保险欺诈博弈模型分析

本文首先建立了基于再保险人分担理赔费用的夸大风险损失的索赔欺诈博弈模型，然后分析了保险双方的博弈策略选择及其可能达到的均衡。研究表明，博弈模型存在某种形式的精炼贝叶斯纳什均衡，但如实告知一般不是保单持有人的精炼贝叶斯纳什均衡策略。而且，博弈模型不存在分离均衡，当费用自负率在一定范围内变化时，局中人将交替选用分离策略与合并策略。     

基于训练和过滤的期望均衡及其实现路径

期望均衡是博弈局中人或局外人对于博弈均衡点的一致期望,强调互利共赢,它要求博弈群体的每个成员对期望均衡点有一个共同的预期.显然,基于纳什均衡的帕累托优化组合策略是一个比纳什均衡更有效的期望均衡.要实现期望均衡,可采用局中人参与的训练与学习使得群体的预期一致,也可采用第三方过滤器来达到期望目标.在期望均衡的概率分布下,个体行为的偏离不能比均衡态取得更多收益.否则,训练就是无效的,第三方过滤器就是不公平的.     

Distributed consensus in noncooperative inventory games

This paper deals with repeated nonsymmetric congestion games in which the players cannot observe their payoffs at each stage. Examples of applications come from sharing facilities by multiple users. We show that these games present a unique Pareto optimal Nash equilibrium that dominates all other Nash equilibria and consequently it is also the social optimum among all equilibria, as it minimizes the sum of all the players’ costs. We assume that the players adopt a best response strategy. At each stage, they construct their belief concerning others probable behavior, and then, simultaneously make a decision by optimizing their payoff based on their beliefs. Within this context, we provide a consensus protocol that allows the convergence of the players’ strategies to the Pareto optimal Nash equilibrium. The protocol allows each player to construct its belief by exchanging only some aggregate but sufficient information with a restricted number of neighbor players. Such a networked information structure has the advantages of being scalable to systems with a large number of players and of reducing each player’s data exposure to the competitors.     

Discriminatory power and pure strategy Nash equilibrium in the lottery Blotto game

This paper highlights the role of discriminatory power in showing the existence of pure strategy Nash equilibrium in a two-player lottery Blotto game. Precisely, when the discriminatory power of the contest success function in every battle is less than or equal to one, a pure strategy Nash equilibrium always exists for any prizes and budgets. However, we construct examples in which pure strategy Nash equilibrium fails to exist as long as the discriminatory power of only one battle exceeds one.     

Learning algorithms for repeated bimatrix Nash games with incomplete information

The purpose of this paper is to study a particular recursive scheme for updating the actions of two players involved in a Nash game, who do not know the parameters of the game, so that the resulting costs and strategies converge to (or approach a neighborhood of) those that could be calculated in the known parameter case. We study this problem in the context of a matrix Nash game, where the elements of the matrices are unknown to both players. The essence of the contribution of this paper is twofold. On the one hand, it shows that learning algorithms which are known to work for zero-sum games or team problems can also perform well for Nash games. On the other hand, it shows that, if two players act without even knowing that they are involved in a game, but merely thinking that they try to maximize their output using the learning algorithm proposed, they end up being in Nash equilibrium.This research was supported in part by NSF Grant No. ECS-87-14777.     

考虑损失厌恶行为与谈判破裂的Rubinstein谈判博弈研究

本文考虑具有损失厌恶行为与破裂风险的Rubinstein谈判博弈。首先构建子博弈完美均衡,并证明子博弈完美均衡的存在性及唯一性。然后分析子博弈完美均衡的性质,结果表明:参与人受益于对手的损失厌恶行为,而因自身具有损失厌恶行为遭受损失;谈判破裂概率对均衡结果的影响取决于贴现因子与参与人的损失厌恶系数;当谈判破裂的概率趋于零时,极限均衡结果收敛于经典的Rubinstein谈判博弈结果。最后建立了与非对称Nash谈判解的关系,其中参与人的议价能力与自身的损失厌恶水平呈负相关性,与对手的损失厌恶水平呈正相关性;参与人的议价能力依赖于谈判破裂概率与出价时间间隔的比值。     

Some remarks on the folk theorem in game theory

It is argued that although the pathological multiplicity of Nash equilibria of super games stated by the folk theorem can be removed by introducing limited observations into super games with a continuum of players, the consideration of super games in terms of the Nash equilibrium concept involves a more fundamental and conceptual difficulty.     

Two different routes to complex dynamics in an heterogeneous triopoly game

We study a triopoly game with heterogeneous players. The market is characterized by a nonlinear (isoelastic) demand function and three competitors. The main novelty is the double route to complex dynamics that we find and is quite rare in heterogeneous triopoly models. We show that the two routes have important implications for the economic interpretation of the dynamics emerging when the Cournot–Nash equilibrium becomes locally unstable. Moreover the model displays multistability of different attractors, requiring a global analysis of the dynamical system.     

On a class of nonzero-sum,linear-quadratic differential games

A class of two-player, nonzero-sum, linear-quadratic differential games is investigated for Nash equilibrium solutions when both players use closed-loop control and when one or both of the players are required to use open-loop control. For three formulations of the game, necessary and sufficient conditions are obtained for a particular strategy set to be a Nash equilibrium strategy set. For a fourth formulation of the game, where both players use open-loop control, necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a Nash equilibrium strategy set are developed. Several examples are presented in order to illustrate the differences between this class of differential games and its zero-sum analog.This research was supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. GK-3341.     

On the existence of Nash equilibria in large games

We study the existence of Nash equilibria in games with an infinite number of players. We show that there exists a Nash equilibrium in mixed strategies in all normal form games such that pure strategy sets are compact metric spaces and utility functions are continuous. The player set can be any nonempty set.     

Farsighted stable sets in Hotelling’s location games

We apply the farsighted stable set to two versions of Hotelling’s location games: one with a linear market and another with a circular market. It is shown that there always exists a farsighted stable set in both games, which consists of location profiles that yield equal payoff to all players. This stable set contains location profiles that reflect minimum differentiation as well as those profiles that reflect local monopoly. These results are in contrast to those obtained in the literature that use some variant of Nash equilibrium. While this stable set is unique when the number of players is two, uniqueness no longer holds for both models when the number of players is at least three.