博弈论gameChap.7.ppt

Chapter 7An Application: The Commons  Problem another application of Nash equilibrium: tragedy of the commons a background to the commons problem. a simple model and characterize its Nash equilibrium. contrast the equilibrium overuse with the socially desirable outcome, 7.1 Background: What is the Commons? The terminology—and background—to this problem can be traced to 16thcentury England. In todays world, international waters (and the fish in them) form a common. there are two critical characteristics of a commons: Access to (nearly) everyone. Resource depletability. The consequence of the fact that the resource is commonly owned is that it might get overused- -- tragedy of the commons 7.2 A Simple Model Assumption: a common property resource of size y 0. Each of two players can withdraw a nonnegative amount—c1 or c2—for consumption: c1+ c2 ? y. When c1+ c2 y, then, y -(c1 + c2) forms the future resource base, there are two time periods, In period 2, each player has to decide how much to consume out of the available quantity y - (c1 + c2). utility function of player i: log i; Analysis: Player 1s best response problem: 7.2 A Simple Model fig.7.1: utility of player 1 fig.7.2 :reaction curves: Nash equilibrium: c*1=c*2=y/3 7.3 Social Optimality Suppose that these two players constituted society and got together to decide how much they should each consume for the common good.“ Definition: (c1`,c2`)Is socially optimal if it maximizes the sum of the two players utility, that is, if it solves the following problem: 7.4 The Problem Worsens in a Large Population To see what happens in this example as the number of players increases. The intuition would be that this increase makes the tragedy even more acute. If player 1 conjectures that the others will consume an amount in the first period, then his utility-maximizing consumption problem: player 1s best response consumption