English

Algorithmic Rationality: Game Theory with Costly Computation

Computer Science and Game Theory 2014-12-10 v1

Abstract

We develop a general game-theoretic framework for reasoning about strategic agents performing possibly costly computation. In this framework, many traditional game-theoretic results (such as the existence of a Nash equilibrium) no longer hold. Nevertheless, we can use the framework to provide psychologically appealing explanations of observed behavior in well-studied games (such as finitely repeated prisoner's dilemma and rock-paper-scissors). Furthermore, we provide natural conditions on games sufficient to guarantee that equilibria exist.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1412.2993,
  title  = {Algorithmic Rationality: Game Theory with Costly Computation},
  author = {Joseph Y. Halpern and Rafael Pass},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1412.2993},
  year   = {2014}
}

Comments

To appear, Journal of Economic Theory. Has significant overlap with "Game Theory with Costly Computation" (arXiv:0809.0024), which is a preliminary version of portions of this paper

R2 v1 2026-06-22T07:25:16.140Z