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Trees and extensive forms

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  • Alós-Ferrer, Carlos
  • Ritzberger, Klaus

Abstract

This paper addresses the question of what it takes to obtain a well-defined extensive form game. Without relying on simplifying finiteness or discreteness assumptions, we characterize the class of game trees for which all pure strategy combinations induce unique outcomes. The generality of the set-up covers "exotic" cases, like stochastic games or decision problems in continuous time (differential games). We find that the latter class, though a well-defined problem, fails this test.

Suggested Citation

  • Alós-Ferrer, Carlos & Ritzberger, Klaus, 2008. "Trees and extensive forms," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 216-250, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jetheo:v:143:y:2008:i:1:p:216-250
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    6. Carlos Alós-Ferrer & Klaus Ritzberger, 2005. "Trees and decisions," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 25(4), pages 763-798, June.
    7. Dekel, Eddie & Lipman, Barton L & Rustichini, Aldo, 2001. "Representing Preferences with a Unique Subjective State Space," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 69(4), pages 891-934, July.
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    9. Stinchcombe, Maxwell B., 1992. "Maximal strategy sets for continuous-time game theory," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 56(2), pages 235-265, April.
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Staudigl, Mathias & Steg, Jan-Henrik, 2014. "On Repeated Games with Imperfect Public Monitoring: From Discrete to Continuous Time," Center for Mathematical Economics Working Papers 525, Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University.
    2. Jan-Henrik Steg, 2018. "On Preemption in Discrete and Continuous Time," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 8(4), pages 918-938, December.
    3. Alós-Ferrer, Carlos & Prat, Julien, 2012. "Job market signaling and employer learning," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 147(5), pages 1787-1817.
    4. Mackenzie, Andrew, 2020. "A revelation principle for obviously strategy-proof implementation," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 512-533.
    5. Shravan Luckraz, 2019. "A Survey on the Relationship Between the Game of Cops and Robbers and Other Game Representations," Dynamic Games and Applications, Springer, vol. 9(2), pages 506-520, June.
    6. Attila Ambrus & Shih En Lu, 2015. "A Continuous-Time Model of Multilateral Bargaining," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 208-249, February.
    7. Riedel, Frank & Steg, Jan-Henrik, 2017. "Subgame-perfect equilibria in stochastic timing games," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 36-50.
    8. Battigalli, Pierpaolo & Generoso, Nicolò, 2024. "Information flows and memory in games," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 356-376.
    9. Santiago R. Balseiro & Omar Besbes & Gabriel Y. Weintraub, 2019. "Dynamic Mechanism Design with Budget-Constrained Buyers Under Limited Commitment," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 67(3), pages 711-730, May.
    10. Carlos Alós-Ferrer & Klaus Ritzberger, 2013. "Large extensive form games," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 52(1), pages 75-102, January.
    11. J. Jude Kline & Shravan Luckraz, 2016. "Equivalence between graph-based and sequence-based extensive form games," Economic Theory Bulletin, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 4(1), pages 85-94, April.
    12. Steg, Jan-Henrik, 2018. "Preemptive investment under uncertainty," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 90-119.
    13. Julio González-Díaz & Miguel Meléndez-Jiménez, 2014. "On the notion of perfect Bayesian equilibrium," TOP: An Official Journal of the Spanish Society of Statistics and Operations Research, Springer;Sociedad de Estadística e Investigación Operativa, vol. 22(1), pages 128-143, April.
    14. Niko Jaakkola & Florian Wagener, 2020. "All symmetric equilibria in differential games with public goods," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 20-020/II, Tinbergen Institute.
    15. Carlos Alós-Ferrer & Klaus Ritzberger, 2017. "Characterizing existence of equilibrium for large extensive form games: a necessity result," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 63(2), pages 407-430, February.
    16. Alós-Ferrer, Carlos & Ritzberger, Klaus, 2017. "Does backwards induction imply subgame perfection?," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 19-29.
    17. Carlos Alós-Ferrer & Klaus Ritzberger, 2017. "Characterizations of perfect recall," International Journal of Game Theory, Springer;Game Theory Society, vol. 46(2), pages 311-326, May.
    18. Alós-Ferrer, Carlos & Kern, Johannes, 2015. "Repeated games in continuous time as extensive form games," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 34-57.
    19. Alós-Ferrer, Carlos & Ritzberger, Klaus, 2016. "Equilibrium existence for large perfect information games," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 5-18.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Extensive forms Trees Sequential decision theory Differential games;

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • D70 - Microeconomics - - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making - - - General

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