On Coordination in Non-Cooperative Game Theory: Explaining How and Why an Equilibrium Occurs and Prevails

The book argues for a shift in game theory's ontology and methodology to better understand players' strategic reasoning process, highlighting the methodological issues faced by standard game theory and the intersubjective dimension in games. It suggests that games should be analyzed as a study and identification of the reasoning process that leads players to a specific outcome, rather than as a mathematical representation of an individual choice at equilibrium. This approach allows for investigating the players' capacity for coordination, which is essential for understanding strategic reasoning and addressing the indeterminacy problem in game theory.

Format: Hardback
Length: 340 pages
Publication date: 18 August 2023
Publisher: Springer International Publishing AG

Standard game theory has been criticized for its failure to adequately address the strategic reasoning process of players. This book argues for a shift in the ontology and methodology of game theory to better understand players' strategic reasoning. The book analyzes the history of economic thought and highlights the methodological issues faced by standard game theory in its treatment of strategic reasoning. It also highlights how the two original contributions of T. C. Schelling and M. Bacharach can be applied to these issues. Furthermore, the book assesses the intersubjective dimension in games by applying the cognitive sciences and by integrating simulation theory into game theory. This provides an interdisciplinary approach for reassessing the nature of the intersubjectivity involved in strategic reasoning. The book shows that the analysis of games should involve the study and identification of the reasoning process that leads the players to a specific outcome, i.e., to a specific solution. This requires investigating the players' capacity for coordination, which allows us to understand strategic reasoning and ultimately to provide new answers to the indeterminacy problem, one of the central hurdles in game theory and one that underscores its normative difficulties.

Dimension: 235 x 155 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9783031361708
Edition number: 1st ed. 2023