Game Theory: Are People Really as Selfish as We Think?
The majority of research in Economics rests on the assumption that human beings, by nature, are selfish and are motivated to act selfishly in all aspects of everyday life. Like most areas of Economics, game theory relies on this assumption, as the Nash equilibrium occurs when each player maximizes his own payoff in relation to […]
A Networks Model of the Pre-colonial World
In his book Pulitzer winning book “Guns, Germs, and Steel”, Jared Diamond explores why Eurasian civilizations were colonizers and why the colonized civilizations lagged behind in technology. He proposes that gaps in technological and political advancements are due to geographic and environmental differences. If we were to think about the pre-colonial world in terms of […]
Price Optimization Algorithm for Small Online Retailers
The problem with smaller businesses using online commerce, is that larger companies have the funds to make their goods cheaper, usually due to wholesale purchases. However, the smaller companies may not be able to have the overhead to supply goods at such a low price without a guarantee of a return. In order for the […]
Social Networking in E-Commerce Sites
While the social networks behind websites such as Facebook and Twitter are well known, there are lesser-known social networks that exist in nonsocial websites like e-commerce sites. For example, companies like eBay and Amazon use product reviews to connect buyers, and websites like Tobi use recommendation engines to show people what their friends have been […]
Applications of Game Theory in Relationships
In the class, we learned about game theory, which concerns with situations in which decision-makers interact with one another, and choose the best strategies that maximize their pay-offs. The game theory can be applied to many various fields from choosing how to target a soccer penalty kick to choosing optimal prices of a product […]
The ISIS Opposition Objective: An [Un]Balanced Network Against Terrorism
The Islamic State—more formally know as ISIS—is continuing to wage its terroristic offensive against the citizens and municipalities of Iraq and Syria. The group’s use of social media is gaining Muslim radical support across the world, attracting a stronger following by the day. In response, the Obama administration, combined with other international allies, is making […]
Game theory & China’s underlying problem
The economic growth in China has been dramatic in the last few decades. For ten consecutive years from 2003 – 2012, China maintained its annual growth in real GDP above 10%. The way it grows, however, poses a question of moral hazards that can cause an inevitable economic “hard-landing” if not properly dealt with. […]
Retribution, Apology and Forgiveness
The referenced paper sheds light on retribution, apology and forgiveness and explores some implications of the framework for the role of victims in the criminal process. It provides an explanation for why victims invest so much effort in achieving retribution, often spending more than a decade filled with anger and hatred, unable to let go. […]
Game Theory: An Intuitive Art?
In searching for articles relevant to the course material, I stumbled upon an article about game theory, and how a recent study shows that chimpanzees may actually be better at analyzing opponents’ behavior and adjusting personal decisions than humans. This struck me as important because while humans may be studying game theory with numbers, figures, […]
Scottish Independence Referendum: Analyzing the result with game theory.
Scottish Independence Referendum happened on September 18th, 2014. The result of the referendum was “no”. 44.7% voted for “yes” and 55.3% voted for “no”. The Scottish independence was an issue as Scotland had both costs and benefits of independence, and England also had both costs and benefits of Scottish independence. This “no” result does not […]
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