The Theory of Extensive Form Games

Thisbook treats extensive form game theory in full generality. It provides aframework that does not rely on any finiteness assumptions at all, yet coversthe finite case. The presentation starts by identifying the appropriate conceptof a game tree. This concept represents a synthesis of earlier approaches,including the graph-theoretical and the decision-theoretical ones. It thenprovides a general model of sequential, interpersonal decision making, calledextensive decision problems. Extensive forms are a special case thereof, whichis such that all strategy profiles induce outcomes and do so uniquely.Requiring the existence of immediate predecessors yields discrete extensiveforms, which are still general enough to cover almost all applications. Thetreatment culminates in a characterization of the topologies on the plays ofthe game tree that admit equilibrium analysis.

CarlosAlos-Ferrer graduated in Mathematics at the University of Valencia (Spain) in1992 and completed his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Alicante (Spain)in 1998. He is a Full Professor of Microeconomics at the University of Cologne(Germany), and has previously worked at the Universities of Alicante (Spain),Vienna (Austria), Salamanca (Spain), and Konstanz (Germany). Since 2012, he isthe speaker of the interdisciplinary Research Unit “Psychoeconomics” of theGerman Research Foundation. His specializations are in game theory,mathematical economics, and behavioral microeconomics (both theoretical andexperimental), and he also works and publishes in psychology and neuroscience.

Klaus Ritzbergergraduated in Economics at the University of Vienna (Austria) in 1982 andcompleted his Ph.D. at the same university in 1987. He has been at theInstitute for Advanced Studies (IHS) in Vienna for about thirty years, withintermissions abroad. He has been chairman of the Department of Economics andFinance for seven years and then became Lead Economist. He is a faculty memberof the Vienna Graduate School of Finance (VGSF) since its foundation. His specializationsare in game theory, financial economics, microeconomics, and generalequilibrium theory.