Textbooks
- Osborne, M. J. (2004).
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An Introduction to Game Theory. Oxford University Press. The most complete rigorous undergraduate text; the natural companion to Parts I–II of this book.
- Gibbons, R. (1992).
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Game Theory for Applied Economists. Princeton University Press. Compact, applications-first; superb on the four-cell roadmap of Table [tab:roadmap].
- Dixit, A., Skeath, S., & Reiley, D. (2015).
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Games of Strategy (4th ed.). Norton. Gentlest entry point.
- Osborne, M. J., & Rubinstein, A. (1994).
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A Course in Game Theory. MIT Press. Elegant graduate core; freely available on Rubinstein’s website.
- Fudenberg, D., & Tirole, J. (1991).
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Game Theory. MIT Press. The encyclopedic graduate reference, strongest on dynamic games and refinements.
- Myerson, R. B. (1991).
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Game Theory: Analysis of Conflict. Harvard University Press. Systematic, deep; unified treatment of noncooperative and cooperative theory.
- Maschler, M., Solan, E., & Zamir, S. (2020).
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Game Theory (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press. The most comprehensive and mathematically complete modern text.
- Krishna, V. (2010).
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Auction Theory (2nd ed.). Academic Press.
- Börgers, T. (2015).
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An Introduction to the Theory of Mechanism Design. Oxford University Press.
- Roth, A. E., & Sotomayor, M. (1990).
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Two-Sided Matching. Cambridge University Press.
- Mailath, G. J., & Samuelson, L. (2006).
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Repeated Games and Reputations. Oxford University Press.
- Weibull, J. W. (1995).
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Evolutionary Game Theory. MIT Press.
- Sandholm, W. H. (2010).
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Population Games and Evolutionary Dynamics. MIT Press.
- Nisan, N., Roughgarden, T., Tardos, É., & Vazirani, V. (eds.) (2007).
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Algorithmic Game Theory. Cambridge University Press. Free online.
- Roughgarden, T. (2016).
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Twenty Lectures on Algorithmic Game Theory. Cambridge University Press.
- Camerer, C. F. (2003).
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Behavioral Game Theory. Princeton University Press.
- Perea, A. (2012).
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Epistemic Game Theory: Reasoning and Choice. Cambridge University Press.
- Schelling, T. C. (1960).
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The Strategy of Conflict. Harvard University Press. The classic on focal points, commitment, and credibility—still unmatched as strategic prose.
- von Neumann, J., & Morgenstern, O. (1944).
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Theory of Games and Economic Behavior. Princeton University Press. Where it all began.
Landmark articles
- von Neumann, J. (1928).
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Zur Theorie der Gesellschaftsspiele. Mathematische Annalen 100, 295–320. (Minimax Theorem.)
- Nash, J. (1950).
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Equilibrium points in \(n\)-person games. PNAS 36, 48–49; and (1951) Non-cooperative games. Annals of Mathematics 54, 286–295.
- Nash, J. (1950).
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The bargaining problem. Econometrica 18, 155–162.
- Shapley, L. S. (1953).
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A value for \(n\)-person games. In Contributions to the Theory of Games II; and (1953) Stochastic games. PNAS 39, 1095–1100.
- Vickrey, W. (1961).
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Counterspeculation, auctions, and competitive sealed tenders. Journal of Finance 16, 8–37.
- Gale, D., & Shapley, L. S. (1962).
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College admissions and the stability of marriage. American Mathematical Monthly 69, 9–15.
- Selten, R. (1965, 1975).
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Subgame perfection and trembling-hand perfection. Zeitschrift für die gesamte Staatswissenschaft 121; IJGT 4, 25–55.
- Harsanyi, J. C. (1967–68).
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Games with incomplete information played by “Bayesian” players, I–III. Management Science 14.
- Akerlof, G. A. (1970).
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The market for “lemons.” QJE 84, 488–500.
- Maynard Smith, J., & Price, G. R. (1973).
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The logic of animal conflict. Nature 246, 15–18.
- Spence, M. (1973).
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Job market signaling. QJE 87, 355–374.
- Aumann, R. J. (1974).
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Subjectivity and correlation in randomized strategies. JME 1, 67–96; and (1976) Agreeing to disagree. Annals of Statistics 4, 1236–1239.
- Kreps, D., & Wilson, R. (1982).
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Sequential equilibria. Econometrica 50, 863–894; and, with Milgrom and Roberts, the “gang of four” reputation papers, JET 27.
- Rubinstein, A. (1982).
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Perfect equilibrium in a bargaining model. Econometrica 50, 97–109.
- Crawford, V., & Sobel, J. (1982).
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Strategic information transmission. Econometrica 50, 1431–1451.
- Milgrom, P., & Weber, R. (1982).
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A theory of auctions and competitive bidding. Econometrica 50, 1089–1122.
- Myerson, R. B. (1981).
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Optimal auction design. Mathematics of Operations Research 6, 58–73; and, with Satterthwaite (1983), Efficient mechanisms for bilateral trading. JET 29, 265–281.
- Fudenberg, D., & Maskin, E. (1986).
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The folk theorem in repeated games with discounting or with incomplete information. Econometrica 54, 533–554.
- Cho, I.-K., & Kreps, D. (1987).
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Signaling games and stable equilibria. QJE 102, 179–221.
- McKelvey, R., & Palfrey, T. (1995).
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Quantal response equilibria for normal form games. GEB 10, 6–38.
- Monderer, D., & Shapley, L. S. (1996).
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Potential games. GEB 14, 124–143.
- Morris, S., & Shin, H. S. (1998).
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Unique equilibrium in a model of self-fulfilling currency attacks. AER 88, 587–597.
- Roughgarden, T., & Tardos, É. (2002).
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How bad is selfish routing? JACM 49, 236–259.
- Daskalakis, C., Goldberg, P., & Papadimitriou, C. (2009).
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The complexity of computing a Nash equilibrium. SIAM J. Computing 39, 195–259; with Chen & Deng (2009), Settling the complexity of two-player Nash. JACM 56(3).
- Kamenica, E., & Gentzkow, M. (2011).
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Bayesian persuasion. AER 101, 2590–2615.
- Bowling, M., Burch, N., Johanson, M., & Tammelin, O. (2015).
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Heads-up limit hold’em poker is solved. Science 347, 145–149.
Free online resources
Osborne & Rubinstein, A Course in Game Theory and Rubinstein’s other books: https://arielrubinstein.tau.ac.il/
Algorithmic Game Theory (Nisan et al.): free PDF from Cambridge/authors’ pages; Roughgarden’s lecture videos and notes: https://timroughgarden.org/
Stanford/UBC Coursera course “Game Theory” (Jackson, Leyton-Brown, Shoham); Yale Open Courses ECON 159 “Game Theory” (Ben Polak)—excellent video lectures matching Parts I–II.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: entries “Game Theory,” “Evolutionary Game Theory,” “Epistemic Foundations of Game Theory.”
Game Theory Society: https://gametheorysociety.org/ (surveys, world congress materials, book lists).