English

Backward Induction for Repeated Games

Computer Science and Game Theory 2018-07-12 v2 Logic in Computer Science

Abstract

We present a method of backward induction for computing approximate subgame perfect Nash equilibria of infinitely repeated games with discounted payoffs. This uses the selection monad transformer, combined with the searchable set monad viewed as a notion of 'topologically compact' nondeterminism, and a simple model of computable real numbers. This is the first application of Escard\'o and Oliva's theory of higher-order sequential games to games of imperfect information, in which (as well as its mathematical elegance) lazy evaluation does nontrivial work for us compared with a traditional game-theoretic analysis. Since a full theoretical understanding of this method is lacking (and appears to be very hard), we consider this an 'experimental' paper heavily inspired by theoretical ideas. We use the famous Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma as a worked example.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1804.07074,
  title  = {Backward Induction for Repeated Games},
  author = {Jules Hedges},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1804.07074},
  year   = {2018}
}

Comments

In Proceedings MSFP 2018, arXiv:1807.03732

R2 v1 2026-06-23T01:28:30.740Z