Political Economy, Oligopoly and Experimental Games,

Political Economy, Oligopoly and Experimental Games.
The Selected Essays of Martin Shubik, Vol. 1

By Martin Shubik
Economists of the Twentieth Century Series
Edward Elgar, 1999

Click to enlarge

This book presents the most important published articles of Martin Shubik who has made a path-breaking contribution to game theory and political economy. The volume shows how game theory can be used to explore fundamental problems in economics, political science and operations research.

The book opens with an introduction to the career of Martin Shubik and the influences which have shaped his research. In this, and the chapters which follow, Martin Shubik stresses the importance of formulative models as playable games and the treatment of information to describe decision making among individuals, using examples from industrial organization. He demonstrates that games are a fruitful way to extend our knowledge of competition among the few. In addition, he considers the importance of gaming in economics and business suggesting that experimental games can be used to illustrate problems and principles in multi-person decision making.

This book will be welcomed by economists, game theorists, political scientists, and operations researchers.

* * * * *

"Game theory is now a mainstay of a wide range of disciplines within economics and elsewhere. The credit for recognizing its potentiality belongs to a small group of dedicated researchers, of whom one of the liveliest and most influential is Martin Shubik. These essays are a testament to his remarkable insight."
     --Ken Binmore, University College London, UK

"Martin Shubik has been one of the great pioneers in the application of game theory to economic problems. His work sheds considerable light on fundamental institutions such as the price system and money."
     -- Eric Maskin, Harvard University, USA

"The two volumes of the Selected Essays of Professor Shubik present a recognizably most valuable collection. The earlier publication of Shubik's book Game Theory in the Social Sciences was very much appreciated and won the Lanchaster Prize of the Operations Research Society of America. This illustrates how the work of Martin Shubik connects ideas, precision, and methods of mathematics with a real understanding of what are the relevant issues which make an otherwise generic scientific question indeed a question of economic interest and significance (and the same can be said a little more broadly with "the social sciences" replacing economics). The current collection of essays is also of interest because the papers that are included are well-chosen and in particular include interesting collaborations of Shubik with co-authors such as Dubey and Shapley."
     -- John Nash, Princeton University, USA

Economists of the Twentieth Century

General Editors: David Colander, Christian A. Johnson Distinguished Professor of Economics, Middlebury College, Vermont, USA and Mark Blaug, Professor Emeritus, University of London, UK, Professor Emeritus, University of Buckingham, UK and Visiting Professor, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

This innovative series comprises specially invited collections of articles and papers by economists whose work has made an important contribution to economics in the late twentieth century.

The Proliferation Of new journals and the ever-increasing number of new articles make it difficult for even the most assiduous economist to keep track of all the important recent advances. By focusing on those economists whose work is generally recognized to be at the forefront of the discipline, the series will be an essential reference point for the different specialisms included.

A list of published and future titles in this series is printed at the end of this volume.