Wednesday, October 19th, 2011
2:00pm - 3:00pm, in Science 2-064

Swaminathan Iyer

UMass Boston

Paradoxes in Game Theory and their Resolution

Abstract: In this talk, I'll first provide a brief introduction to classical and evolutionary game theories. I will then discuss three games: prisoner's dilemma, traveler's dilemma, and minimum effort coordination game. These games pose serious paradoxes when analyzed using classical game theory, i.e., the optimal outcomes predicted by classical game theory are at complete odds with what is observed in reality. We will study these games in the light of evolutionary game theory and suggest conditions that lead to the resolution of these paradoxes.