Game theory and economics in the news
| August 18, 2006 | Ventura County Star, Health plan for small firms to shut down
Insurers participating in pooled-employer programs lose money, possibly due to adverse selection, as high-risk employees are more likely to select certain plans. (by Allison Bruce)
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| August 17, 2006 | BBC News, All is fair in love, war and poker
Game theory can be used to become the world champion of poker and to understand the commitment power of engagement rings. (by Tim Harford)
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| August 17, 2006 | The Australian, Economic crunch of ageing
Annuities offer reduced risk for an ageing population, but adverse selection leads to high premiums, as those with high life expectancies are most likely to enroll. (by David Uren)
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| August 11, 2006 | Globe and Mail, Taxpayers will pay the tab when it's 'too big to fail'
New bond-rating system for Canadian banks takes into account the likelihood of government bailouts, recognizing moral hazard (by Harry Koza)
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| August 10, 2006 | Wired News, Drugs: Sports' Prisoner's Dilemma
The decision to take steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs is a dominant strategy, leading to a prisoner's dilemma (by Bruce Schneier)
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| August 8, 2006 | The Korea Times, Things to Check Before Buying Homes in US
New regulations encourage Korean citizens to purchase homes in the US, but information asymmetry and adverse selection require caution -- a simple tale of the lemons problem applied to homes. (by Chang Se-moon)
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| August 8, 2006 | MarketWatch, Lizards, rats & the investor's primitive brain
Even Wall Street's biggest money managers overbid in the traditional dollar auction. (by Paul B. Farrell)
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| August 3, 2006 | Slate, Hezbollah and the Prisoner's Dilemma
Questions the wisdom of applying tit for tat to the Israel-Lebanon war (by Tim Harford)
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| July 31, 2006 | Times Herald-Record, The cost of the moral hazard: You are paying for it
Regular flooding of the Delaware River is due to moral hazard. Responsible parties, including energy companies, face no responsibility as the federal government provides relief. (by Graham L. Brown)
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| July 29, 2006 | Barron's, Hedging Your Hedge-Fund Bet
Argues that investors should stay away from hedge funds because of cognitive biases and the winner's curse. (by Jonathan Reiss)
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| July 28, 2006 | Investor's Business Daily, Let Employees Control Future Of Retirements
Adverse selection in the pension insurance market is overcome with mandating insurance coverage, but moral hazard persists. (by Jagadeesh Gokhale and Peter van Doren)
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| July 27, 2006 | Mail and Guardian, Medical schemes under the spotlight
Argues that waiting periods for medical insurance coverage in South Africa should be used only to overcome adverse selection, not to forward discrimination.
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| July 27, 2006 | USA Today, Batter up! Sports economics hits field
Discusses why economic analysis of sport is becoming increasingly more common (by Sue Kirchhoff)
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| July 26, 2006 | Gallatin News Examiner, Boater's game of chicken goes afoul
A drunk boater speeds directly at police, described as a game of chicken (with unfortunate pun) in the headline. (by Brandon Puttbrese)
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| July 21, 2006 | The Record (Troy, NY), Game of chicken goes bad
Failing to learn from James Dean, and suffer a head-on auto collision as both refuse to lose in a game of chicken (by James V. Franco)
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| July 19, 2006 | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, CMU deals a winning hand for Texas Hold 'em
Computer scientists use game theory to create poker-playing computers. (by David Templeton)
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| July 19, 2006 | PokerMag, WSOP Update - Day 22
William Chen, a PhD mathematician, uses game theory and mathematics to win at the World Series of Poker. (by Ryan McLane)
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| June 24, 2006 | Slate, World Cup Game Theory
Optimal soccer penalty kicks require the use of mixed strategies. Zidane and Buffon are cited not only as world-class players but also master strategists. (by Tim Harford)
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| June 10, 2006 | Slate, Buy! Buy! Buy! Sell! Sell! Sell!
Stock market frenzies and crashes need not be due to exuberance or idiocy, but may reflect rational signaling and information herding. (by Tim Harford)
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| June 7, 2006 | ABC News, Judge rules dispute to be settled by 'rock, paper, scissors' match
Lawyers will face off, with the assistance of paralegals. Perhaps mixed strategy equilibria will be a required topic in law schools. (by Matt Sokoloff)
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| May 13, 2006 | Slate, Risky Business
A discussion of the theoretical and psychological elements of risk in the insurance industry (by Tim Harford)
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| May 5, 2006 | Financial Times, The Poker Machine
A lengthy discussion of the game-theoretic aspects of poker (by Tim Harford)
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| May 5, 2006 | The Scientist, Sexual selection alternative slammed
Angry letters respond to a review article in Science which suggested that cooperative game theory is a better model of reproduction than Darwin's sexual selection. (by Nick Atkinson)
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| April 29, 2006 | Slate, If Life Gives You Lemons ...
A discussion of Akerlof's famous lemon problem, and the role of adverse selction in the markets for used cars and insurance (by Tim Harford)
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| April 1, 2006 | Slate, There's Not Enough Money in Politics
A clever argument, applying simple insights from auction theory, that lobbyists have less power than commonly imagined. (by Tim Harford)
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| March 16, 2006 | ABC News, Mission impossible: In search of strangers in New York City
The theory of focal points suggests that random strangers should be able to find each other in New York City in this Primetime experiment.
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| March 15, 2006 | ABC News, Lose the weight, or wear the bikini on TV
Thomas Schelling's Nobel prize winning theory helps people diet, with public humiliation facing those who do not lose the weight.
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| March 6, 2006 | BusinessWeek, The Secret To Google's Success
Describes Google's and Yahoo's online auctions for ad space, delving into the theory of first- and second-price auctions, and the winner's curse.
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| February 6, 2006 | Morningstar, Buy J&J and Avoid the Winner's Curse
In suggesting investors buy Johnson and Johnson, the article touches upon the winner's curse in takeover abttles. (by Pat Dorsey)
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| December 8, 2005 | Slate, It's not your grandpa's moral hazard anymore
An economist worries about the moral hazard created by the medicare prescription drug benefit. (by Austan Goolsbee)
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| October 11, 2005 | BusinessWeek, A nobel letdown in economics
In response to the 2005 Nobel Prize, argues that game theory is merely a theoretical pastime, and experimental economics is the hope of progress for economics. (by Michael Mandel )
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| September 2005 | American Scientist, Cheating viruses and game theory
A certain bacteria-eatring virus plays the prisoner's dilemma, with "cheat" a substantial proportion evolving to play "cheat." (by Paul E. Turner)
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| August 29, 2005 | The New Yorker, The moral-hazard myth
Argues that politicians have overstated the moral hazard problem in medical insurance, as few people would overconsume medical services. (by Malcolm Gladwell)
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| May 21, 2005 | The Indian Express, Bombay, Football's zero-sum game
From the "reportes pointing out the painfully obvious" department, this reporter notes that the final match of the FA Cup is a "zero-sum game." (by Jayaditya Gupta)
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| May 18, 2005 | CBS News, Listen to the children
Major auction houses forced to play rock-paper-scissors over rights to auction eccentric millionaire's art. "Sotheby's decided to leave its decision to chance, and had no particular strategy." (by Lloyd Garver)
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| May 18, 2005 | Philadelphia Inquirer, Filibuster fight goes to core of the Senate
In the battle over the use of the filibuster in the United States Senate, members are "like testosterone-crazed teenage drivers locked in a game of chicken." (by Dick Polman)
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| May 18, 2005 | Engadget, Interview: Steve Ballmer, CEO Microsoft
Steve Ballmer mentions "In the game theory of things, we assumed there was some probability" in analyzing entry decisions.
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| May 16, 2005 | The Journal News, NY, Lucas' dark finale feels forced
Star Wars movie review and political commentary notes the fallen hero "Anakin morphs into a zero-sum tyrant ... almost the mirror image of George W. Bush." (by Kevin Canfield)
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| May 14, 2005 | The Washington Post, Read 'em and weep: Mags cash in on poker craze
Brief reference to professional poker player Chris Ferguson, who is known as "Jesus" and wishes to become a professor of game theory. (by Peter Carlson)
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| May 11, 2005 | Rutland Herald, VT, Mathematicians earn post office stamp of approval
Discusses the introduction of a new United States postage stamp honoring John von Neumann
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| May 4, 2005 | The Economist, The tragedy of the commons, contd
A cause for the world's diminshing supply of fish "is the age-old 'tragedy of the commons', whereby anyone with access to a shared valuable resource has an interest in over-exploiting it, and it is in nobody's interest alone to maintain it."
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| May 3, 2005 | The Times of India, Dogmatic rationality becomes irrelevant
(by Ashok Vohra)
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| May 2, 2005 | CFRA News, Ottawa, Teen loses game of chicken with train
Not a good idea. (by Josh Pringle)
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| May 1, 2005 | ABC News, Who's counting: math in narratives
Reviews the trend in film and on television to incorporate mathematical themes, including the film A Beautiful Mind and the show Numb3rs. (by John Allen Paulos)
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| April 30, 2005 | New Scientist, Voters empowered by internet swap shop
Online vote swapping sites in the US and UK allow people to trade their votes for those in districts where they can have more impact. (by Celeste Biever)
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| April 29, 2005 | Globe and Mail, Martin-Layton deal no surprise to some
Canadian politicians employ game theorists to assist in negotiation and deal-making with rival factions. (by Petti Fong)
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| April 29, 2005 | Financial Times, Jungle Theories
A rather scathing review of Paul Omerod's "Why Things Fail" which includes references to bounded rationality and evolutionary game theory in explaining business failures. (by Paul Ormerod)
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| April 29, 2005 | New York Times, Rock, Paper, Payoff: Child's Play Wins Auction House an Art Sale
Major auction houses forced to play rock-paper-scissors over rights to auction eccentric millionaire's art. "Sotheby's decided to leave its decision to chance, and had no particular strategy." (by Carol Vogel)
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| April 19, 2005 | The Guardian, UK, Signal your opposition
The Prisoner's dilemma applied to politics: "Most people won't vote for the minor parties because they expect other people not to vote for them, and therefore consider such a vote wasted" (by George Monbiot)
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| April 19, 2005 | Financial Times, Rules that breed selfish conduct
Prisoners' dilemmas are only troublesome when people are assumed to be selfish. Yet, if we predicate public policy on reciprocity and cooperation, better outcomes would result. (by John Kay)
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| March 12, 2005 | New Scientist, Charity begins at Homo sapiens
Reviews the work of Ernst Fehr and others on altrusim and reciprocity in economic experiments. (by Mark Buchanan)
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| February 2005 | Fast Company, You got game theory!
A somewhat disingenuous critique of game theory in which the author finds that no academic game theorist can provide concrete examples of game theory used by businesses. (by Martin Kihn)
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| January 31, 2005 | Newsweek, Does your iPod play favorites?
People see patterns even when none exist, such as in IPod's randomization feature. This presents a behavioral challenge for mixed strategies. (by Steven Levy)
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| January 20, 2005 | The Economist, Games people play
An evolutionary take on public goods contribution experiments, in which subject populations may converge to mixed strategies
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| 2005 | Beliefnet, Rooting for the Joneses
Describes the human emotion of jealousy as "a perfect paradigm of insufficiency: I am less because you are more. It's a zero-sum game." (by Marc Ian Barasch)
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| December 18, 2004 | New Scientist, Interview: Return of a 'beautiful mind'
Interview with John Nash about economics, mental illness, and the film based on his life (by Michael Brooks )
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| December 12, 2004 | New York Times, The designated hitter as moral hazard
Baseball pitchers deliberately target hitters more often in the American League, where the pitchers do not have to take a turn at bat (by Daniel H. Pink)
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| October 25, 2004 | Slate, Game Theory for Swingers
What states should presidential candidates visit in the final days of their campaign? Some strategies are dominant, others are mixed. (by Jordan Ellenberg)
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| October 18, 2004 | Yale Global Online, US Presidential campaigns and the world
Argues that outsourcing and globalization are not zero sum games as the presidential campaign may make some believe.
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| October 18, 2004 | Wired News, Awarding the brains behind AI
Daphne Koller, winner of the MacArthur "genius award," develops methods for calculating mixed strategies.
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| October 17, 2004 | New York Newsday, States up for grabs dwindling
Allocation of resources across states by presidential candidates is a zero sum game.
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| October 15, 2004 | Wall Street Journal, Vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord -- But scientists differ [pdf]
What happens when people play public contribution games during a brain scan? We discover that people like punishing defectors even at a cost to themselves.
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| October 13, 2004 | Wired News, New tack wins Prisoner's Dilemma
A modern updating of Axelrod's tournament finds a strategy that beats tit for tat in the prisoner's dilemma, but only by sacrificing team mates.
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| September 30, 2004 | ABC News, How we guess what others will do
An introduction to the p-beauty contest and its repeated play, with some vague application to financial markets (by John Allen Paulos)
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| September 8, 2004 | Financial Times, Game theory helps insurers to judge the risks of terror
A model offers game theoretic predictions of the likelihood of terrorist attacks.
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| September 2004 | Monash University Newsline, Invasive ants form giant supercolony in Melbourne
Colonies of generally competitive ants have been found with a genetic mutation that turns off competitiveness and allows for large-scale cooperation (by Ingrid Sanders)
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| July 31, 2004 | New Scientist, Why we do what we do
Decribes progress in the science of decision-making, including economic, psychological, and neurological perspectives. (by Laura Spinney)
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| April 13, 2004 | Bloomberg, China's spending fury points to `moral hazard'
Local governments overspend due to moral hazard and inappropriate incentives rewarding growth without punishing expenditure.
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| April 8, 2004 | Fox News, Private investment protects environment where government fails
Environmental protection suffers from the tragedy of the commons where public lands suffer due to a lack of property rights.
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| April 1, 2004 | Mercury News, Wages are key to offshoring
Argues that outsourcing of American jobs is a tragedy of the commons in which each company raises its profits but leads to less purchasing power at home.
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| March 29, 2004 | EurekAlert, Why AL batters get beaned more often
Moral hazard allows AL batters to get hit by pitches more often than NL batters since the designated hitter rule precludes a tit-for-tat response.
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| March 28, 2004 | Times UK, Recession and other terrorist myths
Notes that international cooperation to fight terrorism is a prisoner's dilemma with each nation having incentive to do less than its share.
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| March 25, 2004 | GovExec.com, Lawmakers voice doubts about health savings accounts
Cites arguments that adverse selection will lead to only the healthiest accepting medical savings accounts, leaving remaining workers with higher health costs.
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| March 22, 2004 | The New Yorker, Times regained
New York City development suffers from a tragedy of the commons in which no one has incentive to invest in the quirky, but the City benefits from the weird.
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| March 12, 2004 | Chicago Maroon, A treatise on dating: the Prisoner's Dilemma
Student paper notes that college dating is a prisoner's dilemma with payoffs expressed in "exclusivity points" (yup, it's a stretch).
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| March 8, 2004 | Dallas Morning News, Physics, economics turn out to be twin sciences
Relates game theory to statistical mechanics and discusses possible crossover between the two fields.
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| March 2, 2004 | Miami Herald, Wireless world awaits next big move
Cites an executive who notes that to sift through future scenarios for the telecom industry, "you need game theory to work them all out."
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| March 1, 2004 | Wisden Asia Cricket, The humanising factor
Discusses the international importance of India-Pakistan cricket matches and notes that sport and war are often zero-sum games.
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| February 24, 2004 | NPR, The Not So Random Coin Toss
Coins are more likely to end up facing the same way they started the coin toss, calling into question their use as a method of resolving disputes.
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| February 3, 2004 | BBC News, One in 10 workers 'incompetent'
Employer surveys reveal that many employees are not proficient, partly due to training and partly due to moral hazard and poor incentive structures.
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| February 1, 2004 | New York Times, Incremental analysis, with two yards to go
David Romer's analysis suggesting that football teams punt too often is considered by the New England Patriots. (by David Loenhardt)
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| February 1, 2004 | Boston Globe, Pigskin Pythagoras
Chronicles one man's attempt to bring sanity and careful calculations into football strategy. (by Jascha Hoffman)
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| January 28, 2004 | New York Times, In Online Auctions, Misspelling in Ads Often Spells Cash
Amusing article about how misspelled auction listings are less likely to be found and thus create an arbitrage opportunity. (by Diana Jean Schemo)
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| January 20, 2004 | New York Times, Subconsciously, athletes may play like statisticians
Athletes appear subconsciously to apply Bayes' Rule and to play equilibrium mixed strategies
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| 2004 | Auction World, The winner's curse
A leading auctioneer discusses the winner's curse, reflecting industry experience but only a vague, rudimentary view of auction theory (by Deb Weidenhamer)
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| December 19, 2003 | Slate, Number Crunching: Why doesn't football have a Bill James?
A more reasoned approach to football strategy determines the value of each field position to calculate optimal play calling. (by Josh Levin)
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| November 11, 2003 | The Register, Oracle chokes on PeopleSoft's poison pill
Strategic commitment highlighted through a poision pill provision, creating an additional $800 million cost to be assumed by Oracle in case of a takeover.
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| November 9, 2003 | New York Times, The imperfect science of release dates
Strategic selection of movie release dates is often a game of chicken and often requires credible preemption.
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| November 1, 2003 | Business 2.0, The card sharks from Silicon Valley
The new champions of poker include those skilled in probability and game theory (by Paul Keegan)
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| October 30, 2003 | Courier-Journal, Motorcycle deaths rise after helmet-law repeal
Refutes the moral hazard argument that helmet laws make riders less safe by empowering them to take on more risks.
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| October 28, 2003 | Australian IT, Christmas comes early for Corbett
Argues that the market incorrectly views retailing as a zero sum game, punishing one chain for successes by another.
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| October 28, 2003 | Montreal Gazette, Paper covers rock, hype lures media
The World Championships of Rock, Paper, Scissors take mixed strategies a bit too far but guarantee fun for all.
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| October 27, 2003 | The Washington Post, Concert tickets moving to e-auctions
Ticketmaster begins to sell some concert tickets through auctions attempting to appropriate some surplus currently going to scalpers. (by Leslie Walker)
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| October 27, 2003 | FrontPage Magazine, Illegal immigrants reshape the political landscape
The distribution of Congressional suits proportional to population makes it a zero sum game, leading to battles over counting illegals.
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| October 27, 2003 | Salt lake Tribune, Use your head
Short letter to the editor notes that moral hazard leads to more head injuries for skiers wearing helmets than for those foregoing the safety gear.
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| October 27, 2003 | Houston Chronicle, Extra life insurance from employer often too costly
Employer life insurance is too costly due to adverse selection. Only the sickest employees sign up, leading to higher premiums.
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| October 24, 2003 | Chicago Sun-Times, Prof offers proof Cubs have only themselves to blame
Game theory helps determine likely outcome of game if fan had not interfered.
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| October 17, 2003 | LinuxWorld, The powerful economic underpinnings of OSS
Argues that open source software does not cause a tragedy of the commons but in fact turns the tragedy "into a Tragedy into a Cornucopia."
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| October 16, 2003 | IT Web, Warmed-over Bayesian ham and spam
Bayesian probabilistic spam filters work better than static checking against keywords or address lists.
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| October 9, 2003 | The Economist, Fat Cats Feeding
Discusses trends in executive incentive pay in light of recent scandals.
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| October 6, 2003 | Newsweek, An experimental mind
Highlights Vernon Smith's contributions to behavioral economics and notes how the field is finding new applications.
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| October 1, 2003 | eWeek, Zeroing in on site and security flaws
Computer system security is not simply a probabilistic exercise since hackers are strategic actors. Game theoretic thought is required.
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| September 25, 2003 | Tech Central Station, The game theory of nuclear proliferation
When nuclear weapons are involved, perhaps counting on rationality and common knowledge is a bit too much to ask, given the cost of failure.
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| September 23, 2003 | KESO News Channel, Man behind recall urges Schwarzenegger or McClintock to drop out
Worried that the two republican frontrunners will split the vote, Congressman Issa issues a threat to oppose both.
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| September 23, 2003 | New York Post, Why Clark will fade
Argues that the Clintons wish to change the game for personal gain, propping up weak candidates to prolong confusion.
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| September 17, 2003 | National Geographic, Monkeys show sense of fairness, study says
The finding that monkeys have an innate sense of fairness may mean that altruism may be quite rational.
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| September 17, 2003 | USA Today, Researchers find monkeys know when they're getting ripped off
A (dubious) study finds that a species of monkeys has an innate sense of fairness. Perhaps the monkeys should have played an ultimatum game.
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| September 11, 2003 | New York Times, Two years later, a thousand years ago
A simplistic characterization of globalization and interdependence as making the world "more nonzero-sum," tying American prosperity to that of other nations.
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| September 8, 2003 | Fresno Bee, Florez air bills may have to wait
Classic game of chicken in the State Assembly over an environmental bill as the legislative deadline nears.
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| September 7, 2003 | New Haven Register, SCSU student tackles the U.S. electoral system
Analyzes the power of each voter under varying presidential election rules.
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| September 5, 2003 | Forward, Israeli economists' dangerous minds
Notes that economists are more greedy than other people in the ultimatum game. (by Avia Spivak)
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| August 28, 2003 | Economist, To have and to hold
Discusses common evidence of irrationality and a possession effect in economics.
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| August 7, 2003 | TechNewsWorld, Neural-network technology moves into the mainstream
Notes how several companies combine neural networks with game theory to create software to mine consumer data and create targeted campaigns.
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| August 3, 2003 | New Scientist, Biggest not always the daddy in mating game
In the evolutionary mating game, experienced partners of a number of species prefer weaker males, potentially as a signal of less abuse to come.
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| August 1, 2003 | New York Times, Schwarzenegger and top ally mum as filing deadline nears
As the recall election filing deadline approaches, Schwarzenegger and Riordan play game of chicken as only one should run, but should enter at the final moment.
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| July 31, 2003 | Freezerbox, Who profits from erasing Iraq's debt?
A Pentagon advisor believes that financiers of "vicious dictatorships" should face a moral hazard but perhaps the hazard is for not supporting US efforts?
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| July 28, 2003 | The Guardian, Caught on tape
A 1974 parody show serves as an example of "Living Scultpure". Contestants participated in a prisoner's dilemma with payoffs reflected as hours of solitary time in a basement.
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| July 27, 2003 | Bay City News, Game of chicken turns deadly for SJ youth
If there was such a thing as the "game Theory Darwin Awards," these two participants in a carless version of game of chicken would likely win.
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| July 27, 2003 | New York Times, How to vote? Let us count the ways
Describes alternative voting systems and metions Arrow's Impossibility Theorem (by Michael Cooper)
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| July 16, 2003 | Kansas City Star, This deal had losers, not victims
A judge believes that investors should take responsibility for stock market losses. Allowing losers to sue brokerages would create a moral hazard.
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| July 11, 2003 | San Francisco Chronicle, Republicans agree, in theory, to unite on one candidate
California republicans face a tragedy of the commons as more candidates entering against Governor Davis implies a smaller chance of any Republican winning.
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| July 10, 2003 | Herald Tribune, The new card shark
Poker professionals are studying up online and by using simulation software which uses game theory to determine optimal strategies.
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| June 28, 2003 | New York Times, Calculating the irrational in economics
Recaps a behavioral economics conference and discusses some common failures of rationality.
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| June 24, 2003 | New York Times, A mathematician crunches the Supreme Court's numbers
Do Supreme Court members vote independently or are there clear and repeating patterns?
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| June 17, 2003 | New York Times, Brain experts now follow the money
Calls for the advent of "neuroeconomics," a blending of game theory and emotion allowing for standard anomalies in rationality.
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| June 8, 2003 | New York Times, Hollywood Defections Leave Agency Low on Tinsel
Lack of new talent means Hollywood talent agencies playing zero sum game, fighting over fixed resources.
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| June 1, 2003 | CIO Magazine, Forward thinking about reverse auctions
Points out that online auctions are not a panacea, and warns against concentrating solely on price.
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| May 30, 2003 | Business Week, The Jobs Wizard of Wharton?
New director of career services at Wharton uses game theory for optimal interview scheduling.
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| May 20, 2003 | Sydney Morning Herald, How to bomb friends and alienate us all
Both tightening of security post 9/11 and terrorists' increased pursuit of "soft" targets reflect optimal mixed strategies.
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| May 19, 2003 | Gotham Gazette, Fighting over outdoor space
A modern-day tragedy of the commons as dogs, bicycles, cafes, and others compete for New York's limited sidewalks.
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| May 15, 2003 | Slate, Both sides now
A game theoretic analysis of the Middle East conflict, considering irrationality and whether the game is or is not zero-sum
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| May 10, 2003 | New Scientist, To trust is human
One researcher suggests a hormonal cause of good will in games and an inverse link between religion and altrusim. (by Ken Grimes)
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| May 1, 2003 | Economist, Signal failure?
Summarizes a RAND article by Feltovich, Harbaugh To, which argues that, in a population of three types of people, the best types may send " countersignals."
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| April 24, 2003 | Arizona Republic, Sad reality behind the American (Airlines) way
The subsidization of the airline industry creates a moral hazard as airlines do not face the risk of loss.
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| April 21, 2003 | The Guardian, Writing off tyrants' debt is a principle that should be extended to even poorer nations
Does forgiving post-war Iraq its pre-war debts create a moral hazard for other countries?
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| April 18, 2003 | ASU Web Devil, Let the sunlight of honesty disinfect cheating plague
Academic cheating is pervasive and creates a prisoner's dilemma as people may elect cheat to stay competitive.
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| April 14, 2003 | Mises.org, Terrorism and the moral hazard
Argues that the insurance-industry requirement to offer terrorism insurance will lead to more terrorist attacks as moral hazard precludes care.
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| April 7, 2003 | AScribe, Stealing bases just doesn't pay, says baseball game theorist
The threat of stealing a base keeps the opponent guessing but few games are won due to base stealing.
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| April 1, 2003 | Fast Company, Mars wins the shipping game
Food giant Mars Inc. applies game theory and auction theory to improve logistics and decrease shipping costs.
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| March 30, 2003 | Cincinnati Enquirer, How smart is it to be trusting?
Being trusting in business is not naive but an optimal way to play repeated prisoner's dilemmas according to Axelrod's findings.
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| March 20, 2003 | Salon.com, The mother of all gambles
Financial auction markets are better predictors of world events, from terrorism to elections.
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| March 16, 2003 | Post-Gazette , Bush is playing 'chicken' not only with Saddam, but with the U.N. and allies, as well
Diplomatic and military brinkmanship games require strong commitments to win. Who will blink first on each front?
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| March 13, 2003 | Economist, Pro bono publico
Reports on initial simulations of the evolution of cooperative societies, overcoming the incentive to free ride.
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| March 1, 2003 | Beyond Discovery (NSF), The bidding game
A concise introduction to auction theory, including auction types, the winner's curse, and the FCC Spectrum Auctions.
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| February 17, 2003 | Slate, Fortune 500, meet Daytona 500: What NASCAR can teach us about business
Race cars drafting resemble a stag hunt game; racers balance cooperation and aggression.
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| February 16, 2003 | Cariocas Press Release, Cariocas raises $5.25 million in second-round funding
Marketing firm creates customer loyalty and retention products through applications of game theory.
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| February 13, 2003 | Cyber India Online, Games people play: A different theory
An interview with game theorist Avinash Dixit about the fundamentals of game theory (by Chinmayee S)
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| February 7, 2003 | BBC News, The maths of Lords reform
Models of strategic voting inform how different procedures in Britain's legislature may lead to distinct outcomes.
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| January 31, 2003 | Wall Street Journal, Ford, GM escalate price war with latest rebates for SUVs
Price wars continue in the prisoner's dilemma of automotive pricing.
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| January 27, 2003 | Dallas Morning News, Physicists play games with quantum mysteries
Quantum computing holds a solution to the prisoner's dilemma, physicists show.
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| January 24, 2003 | Chronicle of Higher Education, Taking on 'rational man'
Chronicles the heterodox movement in economics and discusses the relaxation of rationality assumptions.
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| January 23, 2003 | Los Angeles Times, Do the math: Rooting out terrorists is tricky business
Bayes' Rule indicates that even if we can predict a future terrorist with great accuracy, we will usually be wrong.
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| January 20, 2003 | Philadelphia Inquirer, Strategic science
Game theory is applied to terrorism prevention, from optimal vaccination to baggage screening.
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| January 20, 2003 | American Medical News, Managed care easing gatekeeper hassles
Discusses the role of capitation and other incentive pay packages in managed care.
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| January 13, 2003 | Gambling Magazine, Game and probability theories may suggest different strategies
A perverse (and incorrect) application of the minimax notion of mixed strategies to poker.
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| January 12, 2003 | New York Times, A surge in saber-rattling at the precipice
Describes the origin of the word brinkmanship and the game of chicken from James Dean to Iraq.
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| January 11, 2003 | Business Standard, The games anti-Keynesians play
Game theorist John Nash likes Keynesian economists to Bolsheviks, speaks against nation-controlled currencies.
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| January 10, 2003 | Economic Times (India Times), Discovering Nash at division of mango loot
Amarty Sen addresses John Nash's bargaining solution arguing for the inclusion of equity and fairness notions.
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| January 9, 2003 | Washington Post, Finding shelter with Uncle Sam
Companies increasingly use incentive pay to shift profit risks to employees.
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| January 8, 2003 | Tech Central Station, The cyberspace commons?
Since many Web resources are public, the tragedy of the commons occurs, diminishing their usefulness.
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| January 5, 2003 | ABC News, Future world: privacy, terrorists, and science fiction
An application of Bayes' Rule indicating that even if we can predict a future terrorist with great accuracy, we will usually be wrong. (by John Allen Paulos)
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| 2003 | Wall Street Journal Europe, A primer for government auctions
The winner's curse impacts auctions for telecom licenses. Effects could be reduced through transparency and information-sharing. (by Bhaskar Chakravorti)
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| December 30, 2002 | University of Washington, In mutually beneficial relationship, slowest-evolving species gains upper hand
When species coevolve, the one that adapts slower effectively commits and may be better off.
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| December 24, 2002 | Reality News Online, Is the key to Survivor in 'non-cooperative games'?
Discusses how the reality TV show's many strategic challenges can be analyzed with game theory.
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| December 19, 2002 | The Economist, Nomadism in Mongolia
Collective herding in Mongolia suffers the tragedy of the commons as some leaders call for privatization.
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| December 17, 2002 | Cato Institute, Why the United States should not attack Iraq
Argues that Saddam Hussein is rational and deterrence may be achieved through credible commitment.
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| December 13, 2002 | University of Minnesota , Nomadism in Mongolia
Blue Jays trained to play the prisoner's dilemma appear to adopt a tit-for-tat strategy, leading to cooperation.
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| December 6, 2002 | Disinformation, The art of mega deals
Rupert Murdoch's success in business is partly the result of "understanding how game theory shaped deal negotiations and inter-firm competition" (by Alex Burns)
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| December 1, 2002 | paulgraham.com, Will filters kill spam?
Describes a Bayesian approach to filtering spam from users' mailboxes.
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| November 29, 2002 | St. Petersburg Times, Whom do drug benefit managers help?
Suggests that a Medicare prescription benefit would result in financial troubles due to adverse selection.
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| November 26, 2002 | United Press International, The bear's lair: Unnatural monopolies
The Federal Reserve's stimulus policies present a moral hazard.
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| November 19, 2002 | MSNBC, Capitol Hill's last-minute maneuvers
The game of adding pork to important legislation through bill riders represents a political game of chicken.
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| November 18, 2002 | Toronto Star, Why paper and scissors rock
Hundreds of competitors at the World Rock Paper Scissors Society add a heuristic approach to mixed strategies.
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| November 18, 2002 | Seattle Times, Data-storage field learning to cooperate
Compatibility of hardware and software is a prisoner's dilemma, resolved by the adoption of standards.
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| November 17, 2002 | San Francisco Chronicle, Key Enron energy trader excelled at power game
Timothy Belden, at the center of the Enron scandal, studied game theory at Berkeley.
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| November 15, 2002 | Miami Herald, Nash of 'A Beautiful Mind' fame testifies in Benlate case
John Nash acts as expert witness in support of game theory in the court room.
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| November 8, 2002 | Chronicle of Higher Education, Calculus of the battlefield
Describes at length research noting that deterrence in international relations requires fending off only select attacks.
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| November 5, 2002 | New York Times, Departing Chief Says I.R.S. Is Losing War on Tax Cheats
Auditing tax payers requires mixed strategies but greater enforcement costs require proportionally greater funding.
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| November 4, 2002 | Poker Mag, The truth about poker players
Short commentary argues most poker players decide on a whim, not optimal mixed strategies.
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| November 2, 2002 | Science News, Election Selection: Are we using the worst voting procedure?
Discusses different voting systems and how the outcomes depend greatly on the specific rules employed.
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| October 31, 2002 | ESPN, Fourth-down analysis met with skepticism
Paul Romer's findins that teams should punt less often given the odds criticized by professional coaches.
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| October 31, 2002 | Economist, NP or not NP?
Tetris, the addictive computer game, is not only hard, it is NP-complete.
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| October 31, 2002 | Government Computer News, U.S. should fund R&D for secure Internet protocols
Since security is a public good, developing secure protocols is a tragedy of the commons. (by William Jackson)
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| October 31, 2002 | The Economist, Setting the trap
Applauds U.S.-style antitrust laws that provide immunity to cartel members who come forward as a "clever use of game theory" creating a race to cooperate.
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| October 25, 2002 | Harvard Crimson, Philosopher attacks self-interest
Philosopher offers resolution to prisoner's dilemma relying on the establishment of "social identities."
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| October 24, 2002 | The Independent, Fishing industry falls victim to the tragedy of the commons
Global overfishing and a dwindling supply of fish the result of a tragedy of the commons.
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| October 23, 2002 | Slate, Should we pay off the sniper?
Payoffs may encourage copy-cats, a moral hazard but may be worth considering if the threat is sufficiently credible
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| October 22, 2002 | Daily Trojan (USC), Exorcising the ghosts of American foreign policy
Argues Kissinger's foreign policy based on zero-sum game theory.
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| October 22, 2002 | Daily Hampshire Gazette, 'Game theory': excuse for anything
Local columnist blames the field of game theory for the existence of unethical behavior.
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| October 20, 2002 | Gambling Magazine, Game and probability theories may suggest different strategies
Applies minimax solution concepts to zero-sum casino games.
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| October 19, 2002 | BBC News, Coffee cartel shuts up shop
Association of Coffee Producing Countries fails to maintain prices and cooperation, abandons collusion.
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| October 18, 2002 | Slate, Conspiracy at State College
Joe Paterno's seeming irrationality may be commitment device to instill fear in officials.
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| October 11, 2002 | Business Week, Nobel laurels for an odd couple
Nobel prize awarded for pioneering work in experimental economics and behavioral game theory.
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| October 10, 2002 | Washington Post, Two Americans to share Nobel Prize in economics
Nobel prize awarded for pioneering work in experimental economics and behavioral game theory.
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| October 9, 2002 | Slate, TiVo, we hardly knew ye
The demise of the digital video technology demonstrates the first mover disadvantage in technology.
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| October 1, 2002 | Asia Times, OPEC in the line of fire
The repeated prisoner's dilemma of OPEC cooperation is unstable.
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| October 1, 2002 | Dr. Dobb's Journal, The science of complexity
Provides algorithms for modeling complexity: boundedly rational agents playing repeated congestion games
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| October 1, 2002 | Physics World, Let the quantum games begin
Quantum computing holds a solution to the prisoner's dilemma and other games, physicists show. (by Chiu Fan Lee and Neil F Johnson)
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| September 20, 2002 | United Press International, Experts chip away at Medicare drug plans
Prescription drug coverage proposals face adverse selection problems as healthy less likely to sign on.
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| September 9, 2002 | The Guardian, Terror training
Alan Dershowitz argues that a credible commitment not to negotiate with terrorists decreases terrorist attacks.
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| August 31, 2002 | Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Union keeps Midwest Express guessing
Union uses mixed strategies in threatening slowdowns to gain upper hand in negotation
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| August 29, 2002 | New York Times, When economics shifts from science to engineering
Economists design market mechanisms including auctions and the National Resident Matching Program.
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| August 19, 2002 | SF Gate, Cal prof says teams should go for it more often on fourth down
American football coaches should punt less often, given the odds.
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| August 9, 2002 | The Independent, IMF's $30bn bailout for Brazil sends lenders the wrong signal
International monetary fund bail-outs cause moral hazard, bad investments (by Philip Thornton)
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| August 1, 2002 | Discover, The Mathematics of... Auctions: Going Once, Going Twice
Overbidding in auctions and quantal response equilibria.
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| August 1, 2002 | New York Times, In an Ancient Game, Computing's Future
The game of Go is deceptively simple to learn but challenging for even a computer to play.
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| July 31, 2002 | Wired, Game theory for real people
Argues for interdisciplinary approaches to game theory to replace rational paradigms.
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| July 30, 2002 | Forbes, How to salvage stock options
How stock option bonuses can align incentives of shareholders and executives.
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| July 30, 2002 | Miami Herald, Market decline reveals hazards
Stock options create a moral hazard, incentives for short-term stock price spikes.
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| July 30, 2002 | Financial Times, In search of self-interest
Considers whether historical figures in politics and business satisfy the assumptions of homo economicus, and notes that the definition is quite similar to that of a sociopath. (by John Kay)
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| July 29, 2002 | InfoWorld, Incentive Systems announces name change, new EIM suite
Discusses the rising business of software for managing incentive pay of sales forces.
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| July 25, 2002 | Fox News, Living Together Before Marriage May Hurt Chances of Staying Together
Explores the commitment of marriage and its higher success rate than cohabitation.
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| July 23, 2002 | New York Times, Why We're So Nice: We're Wired to Cooperate
Psychiatrists note that cooperation in the prisoner's dilemma is part of innate altruism.
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| July 18, 2002 | Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Why cooperate? It's a pleasure, says Emory study
Psychiatrists note that cooperation in the prisoner's dilemma is part of innate altruism.
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| July 1, 2002 | Risk & Insurance, Terrorism Insurance: Where's the Coverage?
Terrorists' strategic response to new defenses must be considered in formulating policy and estimating risk.
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| June 27, 2002 | Economist, Bidding adieu?
Examines the role of the winner's curse in auctions for cell phones and IPOs.
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| June 12, 2002 | Nature, We're doomed to dither
Describes simulations of the minority game, a congestion game in which one prefers not to be part of the crowd.
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| June 1, 2002 | Natural History, Cheaters and chumps
Discusses game theory's contribution to evolutionary cooperation, noting the role of anonymity, repeated play, and kinship.
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| May 11, 2002 | New Scientist, Natural born killers
Can sucide bombers be explained as hawks among doves ? An evolutionary psychology viewpoint.
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| May 1, 2002 | Dollar & Sense, What can radicals learn from game theory?
An introduction to social struggle as a prisoner's dilemma in which the role of government is to devise the right game to be played. (by Alejandro Reuss)
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| May 1, 2002 | Scientific American, When markets go mad
Econophysics tries to explain market movement melding adaptive systems resarch with behavioral game theory.
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| May 2002 | Wired, Winner's Curse: The 3G auctions were the last party of an old regime
Argues for an unregulated radio spectrum, without auctions distributing licenses for cell phones. (by Chris Anderson)
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| April 8, 2002 | Wall Street Journal, Can the risk of terrorism be calculated by insurers?
Understanding the mixed strategy game of target selection and defense helps quantify risk.
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| April 8, 2002 | Roanoke Times, Ensuring discrimination
Considers the relationship between credit histories and moral hazard in the insurance industry. (by Reginald Shareef)
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| April 3, 2002 | Nature, Physicists play by quantum rules
Quantum computing holds a solution to the prisoner's dilemma, physicists show.
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| April 1, 2002 | Entrepeneur Magazine, The Art of (Price) War
Price wars are often not sustainable and value-pricing may be a better proposition.
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| March 25, 2002 | Freebuck.com, The Fed and Moral Hazard: have the nuts taken over the asylum?
Argues that the Federal Reserve's economy-bolstering actions create a moral hazard.
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| March 22, 2002 | Video Business, A Game of Chicken
Movie studios and movie rental stores are embroiled in a game of chicken according to executives.
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| March 18, 2002 | InformationWeek, Playing The Nonzero-Sum Game March
Globalization has transformed relationships into non-zero sum games
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| March 18, 2002 | Business Week, Game theory's hidden holes
Disequilibrium play in the traveler's dilemma and games with mixed strategies
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| March 16, 2002 | ABC News, FTC Files Drug Co. Complaint
Generic drug makes paid not to produce generics in cooperation among pharmaceutical manufacturers.
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| March 6, 2002 | New Scientist, Maths picks moment for soccer super subs
Soccer coaches substitute players too late in the game according to new mathematical models.
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| March 2002 | Beacon Hill NewsLink, Summer's here! Let the Hollywood games begin
How movie studios signal the dates of movie releases to avoid heavy competition.
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| February 25, 2002 | Christian Science Monitor, Partisan 'game of chicken' over jobless benefits, tax cuts
In an election year, which party will blink first in game of chicken over tax cuts and benefits?
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| February 9, 2002 | CNet News.com, Partners today, rivals tomorrow
Notes the need to consider strategic moves by current partners, including post-contractual hold up and moral hazard.
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| January 23, 2002 | ZDNet, PGP creator: Snooping must be curbed
Encryption: the web is a one-shot, not an iterated prisoner's dilemma
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| January 23, 2002 | HealthScoutNews, Study Reinforces Power of the Golden Rule
The tragedy of the commons may be resolved through indirect reciprocity.
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| January 11, 2002 | Poker Digest, How winning and losing alters our perceptions of risk
Applications of Thaler's research on risk tolerance and rationality to poker
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| January 10, 2002 | Texas A&M University, Social Interactions May Be Traced Back To Carnivorous Behavior
Cooperative hunting and meat-sharing analyzed as a cooperative game and a negotiation.
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| January 10, 2002 | Nature, Homo Reciprocans
Human altruistic tendencies result in punishing free-riders, potentially resolving the tragedy of the commons. (by Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis)
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| January 5, 2002 | The Diamond Angle, The winner's curse
Baseball players are like oil wells, in that poor bidding strategy for either leads to the winner's curse. (by David Marasco)
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| January 4, 2002 | New Scientist, Euro coin accused of unfair flipping
Lack of uniformity across European Euro coins leads to different odds of heads and tails in different countries. (by Debora MacKenzie)
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| January 3, 2002 | Business World, Who will blink first in German telecoms poker?
German auction for new-generation mobile licenses
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| January 3, 2002 | Nature, The physics of the trading floor
Physicists argue that irrationality leads to exploitable patterns in the stock market. (by Mark Buchanan)
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| 2002 | Bangkok Post, Four-year timeframe looks likely
Deposit insurance agency may introduce moral hazard by charging the same premiums from all institutions regardless of risk.
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| December 21, 2001 | Buzzle.com, Notes on the economics of game theory
Provides extensive introduction to game theory and argues that Eastern Europeans view business culture as a zero-sum game.
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| December 15, 2001 | Software Development Times, Does obscurity equal security
Open-source software and network security represent hawk-dove games
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| December 4, 2001 | CNet News.com, Blunders aplenty in AT&T, @Home talks
Excite loses in game of chicken against AT&T by underestimating its opponent
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| December 1, 2001 | Discover, Why we take risks
Describes evidence of Amotz Zahavi's "handicap principle" by which risky, extravangant behaviors by many species of animals signal strength and ability.
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| December 1, 2001 | Psychiatric Times, World leaders not immune to trauma
How world leaders play games and maintain rationality under stress
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| November 22, 2001 | The Guardian, EC fines 'Vitamin Inc' cartel
Cooperation among European vitamin manufacturers deemed collusive.
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| November 15, 2001 | Nature, Playing by quantum rules
Quantum computing holds a solution to the prisoner's dilemma, physicists show. (by Erica Klarreich)
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| November 5, 2001 | New York Magazine, The domino theory
Mayoral race in New York includes cascades, strategic voting, and games of chicken
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| October 31, 2001 | The Street.com, Moral hazard lights flare around bailouts
Government aid to the insurance industry presents a moral hazard problem
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| October 24, 2001 | ABC News, Drug hoarding and 'Prisoner's Dilemma'
The desire to hoard antibiotics in response to anthrax threats leads to a prisoner's dilemma and limited supplies. (by John Allen Paulos)
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| October 10, 2001 | Nature, Machiavellian tactics modelled
Strategic voting suggests that we may want to vote for our enemies to improve our situation.
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| October 8, 2001 | eWeek, Not just dumb bugs anymore
Information technology: the need for game theory, since opponents are rational
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| September 28, 2001 | Slate.com, Flying pork barrels
The benefits of taking on risk are higher-than-average returns, but there are no risks if airlines are bailed out.
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| September 10, 2001 | Forbes, The tragedy of the commons
Discusses web-based business plans in light of the tragedy of the commons and the need to privatize Web resources.
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| September 6, 2001 | Slate.com, Sell me a story
Why are buildings in the same city of different heights? Negotiation may lead to higher profits from each building.
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| September 1, 2001 | Fast Company, What is the New Economics?
Discussion of Shiller's work in behavioral finance
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| August 18, 2001 | goMemphis.com, NBA team as status symbol becoming more like an idol.
Cities cought in a prisoner's dilemma over recruiting basketball teams.
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| August 2, 2001 | Science Daily, Adversaries would find other attack methods, game theory shows
Credibility in missile defense systems.
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| August 2, 2001 | STATpub.com, Researcher proposes North American wheat board
Attempts at collusion present free-riding concerns
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| July 29, 2001 | New York Times, A Bicycling Mystery: Head Injuries Piling Up
Increased use of bicycle helmets leads to moral hazard, more injuries.
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| July 16, 2001 | Science Now, Autumn leaves, a secret sign?
Trees signal defenses to insects.
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| July 10, 2001 | Nature Science Update, Trees tell pests to leaf off
Trees signal defenses to insects.
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| June 26, 2001 | Sierra Times, The Tragedy of the Commons
Argues that public ownership of forests leads to a tragedy of the commons.
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