Game Theory for Political Scientists

by James D. Morrow

Book Overview

Game theory is the mathematical analysis of strategic interaction. In the fifty years since the appearance of von Neumann and Morgenstern's classic Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (Princeton, 1944), game theory has been widely applied to problems in economics. Until recently, however, its usefulness in political science has been underappreciated, in part because of the technical difficulty of the methods developed by economists. James...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691034303
• ISBN13: 9780691034300
• Release Date: November 1994
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Great for the Novice

If you have never heard of Game Theory before and want to know how it can be applied to many real life situations in easy non-technical vernacular, this book is for you. It recognizes that highly technical definitions are only important for the high theorist and instead relates information on Game Theory almost as a story that can be understood by anyone interested in the topic. It's a great read and has definitely sparked my interest in the field.

Excellent graduate level textbook

This book is an excellent introduction to game theory for the political science graduate student. Although some prior knowledge of economics and game theory would certainly help, the early chapters in the book are excellent in familiarizing the reader with basic formal concepts.A few comments by the previous reviewer may be misunderstood by some readers. This is NOT a "general concepts" book - in other words this is NOT game theory for poets - not that I hold anything against poets. This book does require some undergraduate level mathematics, mainly differential and integral calculus. Those looking for rigorous formal proofs of all theorems will be disappointed, but this is a technical book with an emphasis on demonstrating the application of formal tools to common problems in political science. Some of the material such as the chapter on perfect and sequential equilibria can be quite challenging.If you merely wish to get a sense of what formal political science is all about and do not intend to actually fire up the old calculator, I suggest Robert Axelrod's excellent book "The Evolution of Cooperation".

Excellent introductory text: it's as technical as you want

One of the nice things about this book is it can be as technical or mathematical as you want. If you just want the concepts, you won't be jarred by lots of equations. But if you like the technical aspects, they're all there, especially in the appendix.Great simple treatment of everything from basic Nash Equilibrium to more sophisticated concepts such as Bayesian information analysis.The only potential disappointment of this book is if you know game theory well and are looking for something very sophisticated, this is not the book for you -- not because there's anything wrong with this book, but because it wasn't designed for that level.