Today's Hours:
A great way to start your research is by reading overviews and summaries of a potential topic. Reference books, like encyclopedias, dictionaries, and handbooks, provide this type of authoritative information in a very condensed format. Reference books will:
Use these materials to give you ideas for a topic, write down relevant facts and keywords, and then search Primo or the library databases to locate additional books and articles.
Your assigned book for this class is full of case studies and examples that you could use for your research papers.
Game-changer : game theory and the art of transforming strategic situations by
A radically new, and easily learned, way to outstrategize your rivals. "The wise win before they fight, while the ignorant fight to win." So wrote Zhuge Liang, the great Chinese military strategist. He was referring to battlefield tactics, but the same can be said about any strategic situation. Even seemingly certain defeat can be turned into victory--whether in battle, business, or life--by those with the strategic vision to recognize how to "change the game" to their own advantage. The aim of David McAdams's Game-Changer is nothing less than to empower you with this wisdom--not just to win in every strategic situation (or "game") you face but to change those games and the ecosystems in which they reside to transform your life and our lives together for the better. Game-Changer develops six basic ways to change games--commitment, regulation, cartelization, retaliation, trust, and relationships--enlivened by countless colorful characters and unforgettable examples from the worlds of business, medicine, finance, military history, crime, sports, and more. The book then digs into several real-world strategic challenges, such as how to keep prices low on the Internet, how to restore the public's lost trust in for-charity telemarketers, and even how to save mankind from looming and seemingly unstoppable drug-resistant disease. In each case, McAdams uses the game-theory approach developed in the book to identify the strategic crux of the problem and then leverages that "game-awareness" to brainstorm ways to change the game to solve or at least mitigate the underlying problem. So get ready for a fascinating journey. You'll emerge a deeper strategic thinker, poised to change and win all the games you play. In doing so, you can also make the world a better place. "Just one Game-Changer [is] enough to seed and transform an entire organization into a more productive, happier, and altogether better place," McAdams writes. Just imagine what we can do together.
Out-Think! : How to Use Game Theory to Outsmart Your Competition by
An essential reference to all facets of the world economy Increasing economic globalization has made understanding the world economy more important than ever. From trade agreements to offshore outsourcing to foreign aid, this two-volume encyclopedia explains the key elements of the world economy and provides a first step to further research for students and scholars in public policy, international studies, business, and the broader social sciences, as well as for economic policy professionals. Written by an international team of contributors, this comprehensive reference includes more than 300 up-to-date entries covering a wide range of topics in international trade, finance, production, and economic development. These topics include concepts and principles, models and theory, institutions and agreements, policies and instruments, analysis and tools, and sectors and special issues. Each entry includes cross-references and a list of sources for further reading and research. Complete with an index and a table of contents that groups entries by topic, The Princeton Encyclopedia of the World Economy is an essential resource for anyone who needs to better understand the global economy. More than 300 alphabetically arranged articles on topics in international trade, finance, production, and economic development International team of contributors Annotated list of further reading with each article Topical list of entries Full index and cross-references Entry categories and sample topics: Concepts and principles: globalization, anti-globalization, fair trade, foreign direct investment, international migration, economic development, multinational enterprises Models and theory: Heckscher-Ohlin model, internalization theory, New Trade Theory, North-South trade, Triffin dilemma Institutions and agreements: European Union, International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, World Bank, Doha Round, international investment agreements Policies and instruments: dollar standard, international aid, sanctions, tariffs Analysis and tools: exchange rate forecasting, effective protection, monetary policy rules Sectors and special issues: child labor, corporate governance, the digital divide, health and globalization, illegal drugs trade, petroleum, steel
Gladiators, Pirates and Games of Trust: how game theory, strategy and probability rule our lives by 
Rock, Paper, Scissors: Game Theory in Everyday Life by
Praised by Entertainment Weekly as "the man who put the fizz into physics," Dr. Len Fisher turns his attention to the science of cooperation in his lively and thought-provoking book. Fisher shows how the modern science of game theory has helped biologists to understand the evolution of cooperation in nature, and investigates how we might apply those lessons to our own society. In a series of experiments that take him from the polite confines of an English dinner party to crowded supermarkets, congested Indian roads, and the wilds of outback Australia, not to mention baseball strategies and the intricacies of quantum mechanics, Fisher sheds light on the problem of global cooperation. The outcomes are sometimes hilarious, sometimes alarming, but always revealing. A witty romp through a serious science, Rock, Paper, Scissors will both teach and delight anyone interested in what it what it takes to get people to work together.
Your Career Game: How Game Theory Can Help You Achieve Your Professional Goals by
Your Career Game demonstrates how game theory can help readers to understand and proactively take charge of their career strategy. Authors Nathan Bennett and Stephen A. Miles teach readers to manage the interdependencies and interconnectedness among coworkers, managers, and others in a manner that supports personal career efforts. Then, they show how readers can become better players. The key to learning how to play the career game is "career agility"--in short, nimble individuals are better game players. Thois book includes conversations with a wide range of successful professionals such as Ursula Burns (Xerox), Stephen Elop (Microsoft), Marius Kloppers (BHP Billiton), Ken Frazier (Merck), and Liz McCartney (The St. Bernard Project), and discusses how their career moves demonstrate elements of a game theory approach to career management. This is a must-read strategic guide for anyone who seeks to advance their career and navigate today's job market.
Game Theory Through Examples by
Game Theory through Examples is a thorough introduction to elementary game theory, covering finite games with complete information. The core philosophy underlying this volume is that abstract concepts are best learned when encountered first (and repeatedly) in concrete settings. Thus, the essential ideas of game theory are here presented in the context of actual games, real games much more complex and rich than the typical toy examples. All the fundamental ideas are here: Nash equilibria, backward induction, elementary probability, imperfect information, extensive and normal form, mixed and behavioral strategies. The active-learning, example-driven approach makes the text suitable for a course taught through problem solving.Students will be thoroughly engaged by the extensive classroom exercises, compelling homework problems, and nearly sixty projects in the text. Also available are approximately eighty Java applets and three dozen Excel spreadsheets in which students can play games and organize information in order to acquire a gut feeling to help in the analysis of the games. Mathematical exploration is a deep form of play; that maxim is embodied in this book.Game Theory through Examples is a lively introduction to this appealing theory. Assuming only high school prerequisites makes the volume especially suitable for a liberal arts or general education spirit-of-mathematics course. It could also serve as the active-learning supplement to a more abstract text in an upper-division game theory course.
Gambling and War by
In 1914, as Germany mobilized for war, Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg remarked to the country's legislators, "If the iron dice must roll, then God help us." War has often been compared to a game of dice or a lottery. But just as frequently, war has been compared to a game of pure strategy like chess. Napoleon's shocking successes during the early years of the Napoleonic Wars, for instance, are often attributed to strategic superiority and his ability to see the conflict in the same way a player sees the pieces on a chess board. In reality, the business of negotiating with adversaries, fighting wars, and ending wars is far more complicated than a game of chess where each player can see all the pieces on the board and knows the possible paths that they can take. Even a casual observer of history can see that war is far more chaotic and unpredictable. And yet, international bargaining and international conflict is not a simple dice game either, where human beings have no control over the outcome. A comprehensive analysis of why wars occur and how they are fought must take into account a variety of factors including strategy, human error and dumb luck. And perhaps no game in human history better captures these elements than the game of poker. Indeed, Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz remarked that "war most closely resembles a game of cards." To succeed in poker, it is not enough to simply anticipate the actions of other players and try to outsmart them. A successful player must also have an understanding of, and a healthy appreciation for, the role of randomness. Additionally, players must confront the reality that all human beings are prone to errors in judgment, which causes them to make suboptimal choices under many circumstances. Taken together, all of these challenges make poker a fascinating and highly unpredictable game, explaining its enduring popularity. This book focuses on applying lessons learned from poker, blackjack, roulette and other games of chance to study of international conflict. The book demonstrates how the combined factors of strategy, psychology and probability influence the outbreak of wars, how they are fought, and why they end. Drawing on scholarly insights from a variety of fields, including probability, statistics, political science, psychology and economics, the book offers thoughts on how we can better manage and prevent international conflict, the costliest game of all.
Does Game Theory Work? by
A collection of Ken Binmore's influential papers on bargaining experiments, with the author's newly written commentary addressing the challenges to game theory posed by the behavioral school of economics. This volume brings together all of Ken Binmore's influential experimental papers on bargaining along with newly written commentary in which Binmore discusses the underlying game theory and addresses the criticism leveled at it by behavioral economists. When Binmore began his experimental work in the 1980s, conventional wisdom held that game theory would not work in the laboratory, but Binmore and other pioneers established that game theory can often predict the behavior of experienced players very well in favorable laboratory settings. The case of human bargaining behavior is particularly challenging for game theory. Everyone agrees that human behavior in real-life bargaining situations is governed at least partly by considerations of fairness, but what happens in a laboratory when such fairness considerations supposedly conflict with game-theoretic predictions? Behavioral economists, who emphasize the importance of other-regarding or social preferences, sometimes argue that their findings threaten traditional game theory. Binmore disputes both their interpretations of their findings and their claims about what game theorists think it reasonable to predict. Binmore's findings from two decades of game theory experiments have made a lasting contribution to economics. These papers -- some co-authored with other leading economists, including Larry Samuelson, Avner Shaked, and John Sutton -- show that game theory does indeed work in favorable laboratory environments, even in the challenging case of bargaining. Does Game Theory Work? The Bargaining Challenge, Volume 2
Is it okay to use Wikipedia for a college research project?
Yes, but only as a starting point.
Wikipedia is an excellent starting point. You should use Wikipedia! Read Wikipedia articles, and write down clues that you find. Follow the citations at the bottom of Wikipedia articles. Use these clues to find sources you can cite.
Don't cite Wikipedia.
Don't assume that everything you read in Wikipedia is true. Treat Wikipedia as a collection of valuable rumors. Follow up on each rumor, using trustworthy sources, to see whether the rumor is true.