Why WeChat Failed Internationally?
If you were to walk around China, you would see people using WeChat everywhere. People use it to chat with other people, post stories, pay for groceries, book tickets, order food; they use it for everything. However, when you walk around the US, you would not see as many people using WeChat, and even if […]
Japan-Korea-US Relations and the Impact of Triadic Closure
Still in the wake of the incredibly divisive term of Donald Trump, the United States is in an unusually precarious position with its foreign ties from East Asia. To examine exactly why and how, we first take a deeper look into the role network dynamics – specifically triadic closure – play in the evolution of […]
Game Theory Applied to Arms Races
In international relations, the question of why do states develop arm races always remain a puzzle. In a world of anarchy, having military power allow a nation to get its way. Military power is relative, as a state only makes a relative gain against a rival if it builds its military and its rival country […]
The Tit for Tat strategy that stems out from the Prisoner’s Dilemma
The prisoner’s dilemma is a famous example of a game analyzed through the lens of game theory that shows why two individuals might choose not to cooperate even when it appears that it benefits both of them. Instead of choosing to keep quiet, the two prisoners are given an incentive to snitch on the other […]
Bidding Friction: Auctions in the Real World
One thing that can be discouraging to prospective students of economics is the occasionally overly-simplified and sometimes detached-from-reality nature of the economic exercises. I, for one, have heard numerous versions of “but nobody actually thinks like that when making decisions” after a class in economics. It’s a necessary evil in academia to ruthlessly simplify in […]
Game theory applied to musical performance
Musical collaboration feels like it could be considered through the lens of game theory. Musicians have a range of strategies to choose from, from “full on diva”, to purely supportive background roles. The choice of how to behave in a given musical ensemble depends not just on the talents of the individual, but also on […]