Game theory

The purpose of this thesis is to compare the effectiveness of several interest
rate models in fitting the true value of interest rates. Up until 1990, the universally
accepted models were the equilibrium models, namely the Rendleman-Bartter model,
the Vasicek model, and the Cox-Ingersoll-Ross (CIR) model. While these models
were probably considered relatively accurate around the time of their discovery, they
do not provide a good fit to the initial term structure of interest rates, making them
substandard for use by traders in pricing interest rate options. The fourth model
we consider is the Hull-White one-factor model, which does provide this fit. After
calibrating, simulating, and comparing these four models, we find that the Hull-White
model gives the best fit to our data sets.

We investigate the game known as Chomp. This is an example of a combinatorial two-person nim-type game. Like most of games it has very simple rules, but this does not mean that there is a simple strategy to win. With the help of a computer program we present winning strategies for the first player, since P1 always wins. We also show an isomorphism between Chomp and the Divisor Game.

This thesis is in three parts. In the first, the cultural economics literature which concerns the labor market for musicians is reviewed and its major theoretical and empirical points are examined. The second part begins by briefly surveying the history and main topics in game theory, providing sufficient background for an understanding of the simplified Rubinstein-Stahl bargaining model, which is then described. The third part applies this model to the process by which concert fees are settled upon, and leads to a number of conclusions. Among these are that subjective discount rates reflect bargaining power in the situation described, and that these discount rates are affected by the notorieties of the parties involved.

Economic game theory has been a challenge to traditional models of selfish human nature. Resource acquisition games, such as the dictator game, which have been primarily played by adults, have revealed that humans are inclined to share even when it is not in their best interest to do so. Few studies have been conducted on the development of resource distribution in children, and fewer still have explored the effect of context and level of involvement of a second player in such games. In the current study, 179 children from kindergarten, first, and second grades participated in a modified dictator game with another player. Children were randomly assigned to one of four conditions; a control condition, where they played individually with an anonymous player, or one of three experimental conditions with two players who each played with varying levels of involvement with the second player. It was found that kindergarteners shared significantly less across conditions than first and second graders, with first and second graders sharing similar amounts. The presence of another player significantly increased the amount of sharing for all grades. Additionally, second players shared significantly less than first players. Developmental and contextual patterns of sharing are discussed.

Games have become important applications on mobile devices. A mobile gaming approach known as remote gaming is being developed to support games on low cost mobile devices. In the remote gaming approach, the responsibility of rendering a game and advancing the game play is put on remote servers instead of the resource constrained mobile devices. The games rendered on the servers are encoded as video and streamed to mobile devices. Mobile devices gather user input and stream the commands back to the servers to advance game play. With this solution, mobile devices with video playback and network connectivity can become game consoles. In this thesis, we present the design and development of such a system and evaluate the performance and design considerations to maximize the end user gaming experience. A gaming user experience model capable of predicting the user experience for a given gaming session is developed and verified.