Simultaneous Ascending Auctions
We have learnt that the dominant strategy for bidders in an auction is to always bid at their ‘true value’. However, what if a bidder’s true value of an item depends on whether they are able to acquire another related item? An example given in one of Stanford Professor Jonathan Levin’s economics lectures is as […]
Questioning the Nash Equilibrium in Oil Production?
Original Link: http://seekingalpha.com/article/3985265-nash-equilibrium-explains-opec-efforts-cut-oil-production as accessed on September 16, 2016 As a business student with a keen interest in strategy, I have always heard about the macroeconomic impacts of oil prices and wanted to dive deeper into the key factor controlling these prices – the interaction of several players who produce oil in an attempt […]
Breakthrough Proof 40 Years Later
Paul Seymour and Alexander Kelmans each came to the same conclusion related to graph theory in 1977 and 1979, respectively. This conclusion became called the Kelmans-Seymour Conjecture. The conjecture is one that builds upon simple concepts from graph theory that we learned in class, and is actually fairly easy to understand. Recall what it means for a […]
Game Theory Applied to Boxing: Foreman vs Ali
Ali vs. Foreman is one of the most interesting matches in boxing history. At this point of their careers, Foreman was an undefeated heavy weight champion while Ali was in the twilight of his career. Foreman was 25 and Ali was 32 at the time of this fight. Foreman was known for his raw strength […]
Refining Nash Equilibrium: Should a Mother Confiscate Her Son’s Phone?
The linked article talks about the brief history of John Nash and his Nash equilibrium. The first part touches on the classic prisoner’s dilemma. Here is the story: two prisoners face the same deal offered by the attorney. If they both confess, they will be sentenced then years in jail. If one stays quiet while […]
Game theory: Super Bowl 2015
When most people think of football, they think about the deep throws, the one handed catches, and the big hits. The aspect of the game that is most overlooked, however, is the strategy that goes into the game. The main focus of this article is the 2015 Super bowl game between the Seattle Seahawks and […]
Uber is a Matching Market
http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2015/07/uber_s_algorithm_and_the_mirage_of_the_marketplace.html Uber and other car service apps, such as Lyft, which have been increasing in popularity over the past few years can be viewed as a matching market with two sets in the graph. The riders can be viewed as one side of the graph, set R, and the drivers can be viewed as […]
One Step Ahead of Best Responses
Game theory involves analyzing the possible strategies that are available to not only you, but also all the other participants, and weighing the possible payoffs that can come from your choices. However, in some games, it isn’t enough to just know what the best strategy is; you also have to figure out what your best […]
Game Theory Behind the Greek-Euro Negotiations
Links: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33254857 Supplement Link: https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/monkey-cage/wp/2015/02/16/why-greeces-finance-minister-denies-that-hes-a-game-theorist/ This article covers the Greece-debt crisis in 2015 from a tactical point of view. Referencing the Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis’ knowledge of game theory, it theorizes his thought process behind the bargaining some considered scheming and bluffing. Due to the nature of the situation, the most likely outcome of the […]
An application of Braess’s Paradox in power grids
Power companies are always looking for ways to expand their coverage and increase the stability of their networks; however, as a new finding shows, these two goals may be in direct competition with each other. A paper published in the New Journal of Physics by Dirk Witthaut and Marc Timme, finds that the addition of […]
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