Farsightedly stable networks

We propose a new concept, the pairwise farsightedly stable set, in order to predict which networks may be formed among farsighted players. A set of networks G is pairwise farsightedly stable (i) if all possible pairwise deviations from any network g E G to a network outside G are deterred by the threat of endind worse off or equally well off, (ii) if there exists a farsightedly improving path from any network outside the set leading to some network in the set, and (iii) if there is no proper subset of G satisfying (i) and (ii). We show that a non-empty pairwise farsightedly stable set always exists and we provide a full characterization of unique pairwise farsightedly stable sets of networks. Contrary to other pairwise concepts, pairwise farsightedly yields a Pareto dominating betwork, if it exists, as the unique outcome. Finally, we study the relationship between pairwise farsightedly stability and other concepts such as the largest consistent set.(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)