| This textbook is primarily aimed at students undertaking advanced undergraduate courses or introductory postgraduate courses, which incorporate economic applications of game theory. Following the widespread use of game theory in economics such courses are now common in many universities. Although quite a number of textbooks have recently been published on game theory, few place extensive emphasis on the economic applications of this theory. Furthermore these textbooks often present the material using high-level mathematics, which many students find over difficult. This text seeks to remedy these shortcomings. In particular we illustrate how game theory can be used to help us gain a deeper understanding of many issues economists are interested in. To do this we analyse a broad range of topics taken from both macroeconomics and microeconomics. This is done without the use of advanced-level mathematics. Instead, all that is required is a level of mathematics taught on most introductory undergraduate courses. This is achieved by the extensive use of examples and diagrams to illustrate arguments presented in the text. The book avoids deriving highly complex proofs used in game theory. Instead, general results are derived as extensions to more specific problems.
In order to further aid student learning, each of the main chapters incorporates a number of exercises. These exercises are an integral part of the text. They seek to develop previous ideas and often provide the basis for subsequent discussion. Students are, therefore, strongly recommended to attempt these exercises before continuing with the text. None the less full solutions to these exercises are provided at the end of each chapter, which can then be used as worked examples for future reference. Although we have attempted to maintain a constant level of difficulty with these exercises, some are necessarily more complex than others. These have been marked with an asterisk (*). Finally, to guide further reading a selective list of relevant books and articles is provided at the end of each chapter.
My thanks go to colleagues at veE for their help and support in writing this book. Thanks also go to current and past students for undertaking many of the exercises and offering helpful suggestions. Finally, my thanks go to Jacky for her patience and love. This book is dedicated to her. |
