When two or more people get together, things gets complicated. Game theory is the study of what happens when humans compete and coordinate to get ahead, both as individuals and as groups.
David McAdams has written a clear and clever introduction to the subject. He shows us how to understand basic game theory models and applies them to complex and varied problems. The variety of situations that game theory can explain reveals its utility. From eBay buyer feedback to convincing your children to eat vegetables with dinner, a bit of strategic thinking goes a long way.
McAdams teaches at the Duke Fuqua School of Business in Durham, North Carolina. He writes very grown-up, abstruse economics papers in technical journals. But Game-Changer is lucid and straightforward. Interactions can go better if certain rules are followed or disregarded. Understanding payoffs helps you navigate complex situations. Thinking about incentives at an individual and organisational level can help you to make better decisions.
Like many introductory texts on game theory, McAdams pays most attention to the Prisoners’ Dilemma. It is true that this is perhaps the easiest model to grasp, and has a wide and surprising array of applications. There is more to game theory than just this model, as McAdams knows well, but readers of the book will mainly find themselves able to spot collective action problems soluble by coördination, cartelisation, or regulation.
McAdams thinks we can become what he calls “Game-Changers” by thinking about strategies, and realising that there are options available to us we hadn’t already seen.
Whether game theory can change your life is another question. Seeing game theory in day-to-day life can be useful: it can help you see strategies you might not have seen before. But most sportspeople, financiers, market traders, businesspeople, generals and con artists often instinctively “get” the rules of games, and successful strategies anyway – without needing to think explicitly about payoff matrices and rules. It’s often a bit of extra cognitive effort to apply the models of game theory to what you may already grasp.
q&a immune resistance
Show me some game theory in action.
McAdams comes up with a plan for arresting the progress of antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis. The spectre of an untreatable strain of this and other bacteria greatly worries the World Health Organization, who fear that a disease that plagued Europe in the 18th and 19th Century could be just as lethal in the future.
And what does he propose?
McAdams splits the cycle of infection into three stages: infection, transmission, and treatment. Noting that antibiotic resistant strains of tuberculosis tend to beat both doctors and other strains of tuberculosis at the treatment stage, he suggests strategies to prevent infection and transmission. Tools for quicker diagnosis should be used so that resistant strains can be defeated by the right drug, he says, and infected patients should be isolated as quickly as possible, while epidemiological data should be used to find out exactly who the patient came into contact with and give them antibiotics to stave off infection.
And what kind of game theory model is he using?
Many. In the real world, it’s hard just to apply a single model: you have to develop complex models on the fly. So developing countries’ hospitals’ incentives to tackle tuberculosis is a Prisoners’ Dilemma – they’d all be better off if everyone adopted policies to increase tuberculosis screening, but none of them is individually better off doing so if no one else does. But the infection, transmission, and treatment games are modelled separately. Each is a multivariable game that isn’t put into a nice, easy-to-read box.
He’d make a good management consultant.
He just teaches them – on the MBA course at Duke University.
abouyamourn@thenational.ae
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Mia Man’s tips for fermentation
- Start with a simple recipe such as yogurt or sauerkraut
- Keep your hands and kitchen tools clean. Sanitize knives, cutting boards, tongs and storage jars with boiling water before you start.
- Mold is bad: the colour pink is a sign of mold. If yogurt turns pink as it ferments, you need to discard it and start again. For kraut, if you remove the top leaves and see any sign of mold, you should discard the batch.
- Always use clean, closed, airtight lids and containers such as mason jars when fermenting yogurt and kraut. Keep the lid closed to prevent insects and contaminants from getting in.
Dengue%20fever%20symptoms
%3Cp%3EHigh%20fever%20(40%C2%B0C%2F104%C2%B0F)%3Cbr%3ESevere%20headache%3Cbr%3EPain%20behind%20the%20eyes%3Cbr%3EMuscle%20and%20joint%20pains%3Cbr%3ENausea%3Cbr%3EVomiting%3Cbr%3ESwollen%20glands%3Cbr%3ERash%26nbsp%3B%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
Company%20profile
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
