Year: 2012
Type: preprint
Abstract: Two-player complete-information game trees are perhaps the simplest possible setting for studying general-sum games and the computational problem of finding equilibria. These games admit a simple bottom-up algorithm for finding subgame perfect Nash equilibria efficiently. However, such an algorithm can fail to identify optimal equilibria, such as those that maximize social welfare. The reason is that, counterintuitively, probabilistic action choices are sometimes needed to achieve maximum payoffs. We provide a novel polynomial-time algorithm for this problem that explicitly reasons about stochastic decisions and demonstrate its use in an example card game.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Language: English
Topic: Game Theory and Applications
Field: Decision Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1773694875