Game Theory Terminology and Key Words

Prepared by:

Joseph Malkevitch
Department of Mathematics
York College (CUNY)
Jamaica, New York 11451

email:

malkevitch@york.cuny.edu

web page:

http://york.cuny.edu/~malk


Wikipedia offers a large variety of articles related to game theory. Many of
these articles are available via doing a search on the indented string in the list
below on Wikipedia, or on a search engine.

Definitions

Normal-form game
Extensive-form game
Escalation of commitment
Graphical game
Cooperative game
Succinct game
Information set
Hierarchy of beliefs
Preference

Equilibrium concepts

Nash equilibrium
Subgame perfection
Mertens-stable equilibrium
Bayesian Nash equilibrium
Perfect Bayesian equilibrium
Trembling hand
Proper equilibrium
Epsilon-equilibrium
Correlated equilibrium
Sequential equilibrium
Quasi-perfect equilibrium
Evolutionarily stable strategy
Risk dominance
Core
Shapley value
Pareto efficiency
Gibbs equilibrium
Quantal response equilibrium
Self-confirming equilibrium
Strong Nash equilibrium
Markov perfect equilibrium

Strategies

Dominant strategies
Pure strategy
Mixed strategy
Tit for tat
Grim trigger
Collusion
Backward induction
Forward induction
Markov strategy

Classes of games

Symmetric game
Perfect information
Simultaneous game
Sequential game
Repeated game
Signaling game
Screening game
Cheap talk
Zero-sum game
Mechanism design
Bargaining problem
Stochastic game
n-player game
Large Poisson game
Nontransitive game
Global games
Strictly determined game
Potential game

Games

Prisoner's dilemma
Traveler's dilemma
Coordination game
Chicken
Centipede game
Volunteer's dilemma
Dollar auction
Battle of the sexes
Stag hunt
Matching pennies
Ultimatum game
Rock-paper-scissors
Pirate game
Dictator game
Public goods game
Blotto games
War of attrition
El Farol Bar problem
Fair division
Fair cake-cutting
Cournot game
Deadlock
Diner's dilemma
Guess 2/3 of the average
Kuhn poker
Nash bargaining game
Prisoners and hats puzzle
Trust game
Princess and monster game
Monty Hall problem
Rendezvous problem

Theorems

Minimax theorem
Nash's theorem
Purification theorem
Folk theorem
Revelation principle
Arrow's impossibility theorem

Key figures

Albert W. Tucker
Amos Tversky
Ariel Rubinstein
Daniel Kahneman
David K. Levine
David M. Kreps
Donald B. Gillies
Drew Fudenberg
Eric Maskin
Harold W. Kuhn
Herbert Simon
Hervé Moulin
Jean Tirole
Jean-François Mertens
John Harsanyi
John Maynard Smith
John Nash
John von Neumann
Kenneth Arrow
Kenneth Binmore
Leonid Hurwicz
Lloyd Shapley
Melvin Dresher
Merrill M. Flood
Oskar Morgenstern
Paul Milgrom
Peyton Young
Reinhard Selten
Robert Axelrod
Robert Aumann
Robert B. Wilson
Roger Myerson
Samuel Bowles
Thomas Schelling
William Vickrey

Some additional names:
Michel Balinski
David Gale
Alvin Roth
Donald Saari


See also

All-pay auction
Alpha–beta pruning
Bertrand paradox
Bounded rationality
Combinatorial game theory
Confrontation analysis
Coopetition
List of game theorists
List of games in game theory
No-win situation
Topological game
Tragedy of the commons
Tyranny of small decisions