This paper presents a general closed graph property for (randomized strategy) Nash equilibrium correspondence in large games. In particular, we show that for any large game with a convergent sequence of fiinite-player games, the limit of any convergent sequence of Nash equilibria of the corresponding finite-player games can be induced by a Nash equilibrium of the large game. Such a result goes beyond earlier results on the closed graph property for pure strategy Nash equilibrium correspondence in large games in multiple aspects. An application on equilibrium selection in large games is also presented.
We study the structure of the set of equilibrium payoffs in finite games, both for Nash equilibrium and correlated equilibrium. A nonempty subset of R^2 is shown to be the set of Nash equilibrium payoffs of a bimatrix game if and only if it is a finite union of rectangles. Furthermore, we show that for any nonempty finite union of rectangles U and any polytope P in R^2 containing U, there exists a bimatrix game with U as set of Nash equilibrium payoffs and P as set of correlated equilibrium payoffs. The n-player case and the robustness of this result to perturbation of the payoff matrices are …
This paper has two central aims: first, to provide simple conditions under which the generalized games in choice form and, consequently, the abstract economies, admit equilibrium; second, to study the solvability of several types of systems of vector quasi-equilibrium problems as an application. Our work outlines that there still is much to be gained from using the results concerning the existence of equilibrium of games as tools of research for other optimization problems.
We investigate the set of Nash equilibrium payoffs for two person differential games. The main result of the paper is the characterization of the set of Nash equilibrium payoffs in the terms of nonsmooth analysis. Also we obtain the sufficient conditions for a pair of continuous function to provide a Nash equilibrium. This result generalizes the method of system of Hamilton-Jacobi equations.
Distributed Nash equilibrium seeking of aggregative games is investigated and a continuous-time algorithm is proposed. The algorithm is designed by virtue of projected gradient play dynamics and distributed average tracking dynamics, and is applicable to games with constrained strategy sets and weight-balanced communication graphs. We obtain an exponential convergence of the proposed algorithm to the Nash equilibrium. Numerical examples illustrate the effectiveness of our methods.
In this paper we use the minimax inequalities obtained by S. Park (2011) to prove the existence of weighted Nash equilibria and Pareto Nash equilibria of a multiobjective game defined on abstract convex spaces.
We introduce the notions of w-lower semicontinuous and almost w-lower semicontinuous correspondence with respect to a given set and prove a new fixed-point theorem. We also introduce the notion of correspondence with e-LSCS-property. As applications we obtain some new equilibrium theorems for abstract economies and for generalized multiobjective games.
In this paper, we prove the existence of the equilibrium in choice for games in choice form. These games have recently been introduced by A. Stefanescu, M. Ferrara and M. V. Stefanescu. Our results link the recent research to the older approaches, regarding games in normal form or qualitative games.
In this paper, we study a nonzero-sum stochastic differential game in Markovian framework. We show the existence of the Nash equilibrium point which is discontinuous and of bang-bang type under natural conditions. The main tool is the notion of backward stochastic differential equations which, in our case, are multidimensional with discontinuous generators with respect to z component.
We establish the existence of fixed points for set-valued maps defined on metric spaces and satisfying a pointwise or a local version of Banach's contraction property. As an application, we demonstrate the existence of Nash equilibrium in a general class of strategic games played on metric spaces of strategies.
In this paper, we consider a large class of hierarchical congestion population games. One can show that the equilibrium in a game of such type can be described as a minimum point in a properly constructed multi-level convex optimization problem. We propose a fast primal-dual composite gradient method and apply it to the problem, which is dual to the problem describing the equilibrium in the considered class of games. We prove that this method allows to find an approximate solution of the initial problem without increasing the complexity.
In this work, we study the distributed Nash equilibrium seeking problem for monotone generalized noncooperative games with set constraints and shared affine inequality constraints. A distributed regularized penalty method is proposed. The idea is to use a differentiable penalty function with a time-varying penalty parameter to deal with the inequality constraints. A time-varying regularization term is used to deal with the ill-poseness caused by the monotonicity assumption and the time-varying penalty term. The asymptotic convergence to the least-norm variational equilibrium of the game is pro…
We design the first fully-distributed algorithm for generalized Nash equilibrium seeking in aggregative games on a time-varying communication network, under partial-decision information, i.e., the agents have no direct access to the aggregate decision. The algorithm is derived by integrating dynamic tracking into a projected pseudo-gradient algorithm. The convergence analysis relies on the framework of monotone operator splitting and the Krasnosel'skii-Mann fixed-point iteration with errors.
We prove that every multiplayer quitting game admits a sunspot $\varepsilon$-equilibrium for every $\varepsilon > 0$, that is, an $\varepsilon$-equilibrium in an extended game in which the players observe a public signal at every stage. We also prove that if a certain matrix that is derived from the payoffs in the game is a $Q$-matrix in the sense of linear complementarity problems, then the game admits a Nash $\varepsilon$-equilibrium for every $\varepsilon > 0$.
We consider a 3-player game in the normal form, in which each player has two actions. We assume that the game is symmetric and repeated infinitely many times. At each stage players make their choices knowing only the average payoffs from previous stages of all the players. A strategy of a player in the repeated game is a function defined on the convex hull of the set of payoffs. Our aim is to construct a strong Nash equilibrium in the repeated game, i.e. a strategy profile being resistant to deviations by coalitions. Constructed equilibrium strategies are safe, i.e. the non-deviating player pa…
Nonzero sum games typically have multiple Nash equilibriums (or no equilibrium), and unlike the zero sum case, they may have different values at different equilibriums. Instead of focusing on the existence of individual equilibriums, we study the set of values over all equilibriums, which we call the set value of the game. The set value is unique by nature and always exists (with possible value $\emptyset$). Similar to the standard value function in control literature, it enjoys many nice properties such as regularity, stability, and more importantly the dynamic programming principle. There ar…
We investigate whether having a unique equilibrium (or a given number of equilibria) is robust to perturbation of the payoffs, both for Nash equilibrium and correlated equilibrium. We show that the set of n-player finite games with a unique correlated equilibrium is open, while this is not true of Nash equilibrium for n>2. The crucial lemma is that a unique correlated equilibrium is a quasi-strict Nash equilibrium. Related results are studied. For instance, we show that generic two-person zero-sum games have a unique correlated equilibrium and that, while the set of symmetric bimatrix games wi…
The paper studies the convergence, as $N$ tends to infinity, of a system of $N$ coupled Hamilton-Jacobi equations (the Nash system) when the coupling between the players becomes increasingly singular. The limit equation is a mean field game system with local coupling.
In this paper, we aim to design a distributed approximate algorithm for seeking Nash equilibria of an aggregative game. Due to the local set constraints of each player, projectionbased algorithms have been widely employed for solving such problems actually. Since it may be quite hard to get the exact projection in practice, we utilize inscribed polyhedrons to approximate local set constraints, which yields a related approximate game model. We first prove that the Nash equilibrium of the approximate game is the $ε$-Nash equilibrium of the original game, and then propose a distributed algorithm …
The paper is concerned with a zero-sum Stackelberg stochastic linear-quadratic (LQ, for short) differential game over finite horizons. Under a fairly weak condition, the Stackelberg equilibrium is explicitly obtained by first solving a forward stochastic LQ optimal control problem (SLQ problem, for short) and then a backward SLQ problem. Two Riccati equations are derived in constructing the Stackelberg equilibrium. An interesting finding is that the difference of these two Riccati equations coincides with the Riccati equation associated with the zero-sum Nash stochastic LQ differential game, w…
We construct an approximate public-signal correlated equilibrium for a nonzero-sum differential game in the class of stochastic strategies with memory. The construction is based on a solution of an auxiliary nonzero-sum continuous-time stochastic game. This class of games includes stochastic differential games and continuous-time Markov games. Moreover, we study the limit of approximate equilibrium outcomes in the case when the auxiliary stochastic games tend to the original deterministic one. We show that it lies in the convex hull of the set of equilibrium values provided by deterministic pu…
In this paper, we study a distributed continuous-time design for aggregative games with coupled constraints in order to seek the generalized Nash equilibrium by a group of agents via simple local information exchange. To solve the problem, we propose a distributed algorithm based on projected dynamics and non-smooth tracking dynamics, even for the case when the interaction topology of the multi-agent network is time-varying. Moreover, we prove the convergence of the non-smooth algorithm for the distributed game by taking advantage of its special structure and also combining the techniques of t…
The paper is concerned with a two-player nonzero-sum differential game in the case when players are informed about the current position. We consider the game in control with guide strategies first proposed by Krasovskii and Subbotin. The construction of universal strategies is given both for the case of continuous and discontinuous value functions. The existence of a discontinuous value function is established. The continuous value function does not exist in the general case. In addition, we show the example of smooth value function not being a solution of the system of Hamilton--Jacobi equati…
Noticing that physical limitations are ubiquitous in practical engineering systems, this paper considers Nash equilibrium seeking for games in systems where the control inputs are bounded. More specifically, first-order integrator-type systems with bounded control inputs are firstly considered and two saturated control strategies are designed to seek for the Nash equilibrium of the game. Then, we further consider the Nash equilibrium seeking problem for games in second-order integrator-type systems. As this problem has rarely been investigated, we firstly propose a centralized seeking strategy…
A uniform sunspot epsilon-equilibrium of a dynamic game is a uniform epsilon-equilibrium in an extended game, where the players observe a public signal at every stage. We prove that a uniform sunspot epsilon-equilibrium exists in two classes of multiplayer absorbing games, thereby extending earlier works by Solan and Solan (2019, 2018).
We show that every two-player stochastic game with finite state and action sets and bounded, Borel-measurable, and shift-invariant payoffs, admits an $\ep$-equilibrium for all $\varepsilon>0$.
In the nonzero-sum setting, we establish a connection between Nash equilibria in games of optimal stopping (Dynkin games) and generalised Nash equilibrium problems (GNEP). In the Dynkin game this reveals novel equilibria of threshold type and of more complex types, and leads to novel uniqueness and stability results.
In this paper, we investigate Nash equilibrium payoffs for nonzero-sum stochastic differential games with reflection. We obtain an existence theorem and a characterization theorem of Nash equilibrium payoffs for nonzero-sum stochastic differential games with nonlinear cost functionals defined by doubly controlled reflected backward stochastic differential equations.
We give an example of a finite-state two-player turn-based stochastic game with safety objectives for both players which has no stationary Nash equilibrium. This answers an open question of Secchi and Sudderth.
This paper develops a novel methodology to study robust stability properties of Nash equilibrium points in dynamic games. Small-gain techniques in modern mathematical control theory are used for the first time to derive conditions guaranteeing uniqueness and global asymptotic stability of Nash equilibrium point for economic models described by functional difference equations. Specification to a Cournot oligopoly game is studied in detail to demonstrate the power of the proposed methodology.
This paper is related to nonzero-sum stochastic differential games in the Markovian framework. We show existence of a Nash equilibrium point for the game when the drift is no longer bounded and only satisfies a linear growth condition. The main tool is the notion of backward stochastic differential equations which, in our case, are multidimensional with continuous coefficient and stochastic linear growth.
Most of atoms and molecule found in nature are capable of evolving towards and staying at their ground states, the lowest energy states. This paper offers a global optimization approach to understand the ground state as the equilibrium point of an $n$-player game under cooperation. With the same approach, Nash equilibrium can be viewed as the equilibrium point under competition. The former can offer higher payoffs and stability of game playing than the later. It is truly an inspiration from nature for us to build societies for quality and stability under cooperation rather than competition.
In this paper, we study Nash equilibrium payoffs for nonzero-sum stochastic differential games via the theory of backward stochastic differential equations. We obtain an existence theorem and a characterization theorem of Nash equilibrium payoffs for nonzero-sum stochastic differential games with nonlinear cost functionals defined with the help of a doubly controlled backward stochastic differential equation. Our results extend former ones by Buckdahn, Cardaliaguet and Rainer (2004) and are based on a backward stochastic differential equation approach.
This work considers stochastic differential games with a large number of players, whose costs and dynamics interact through the empirical distribution of both their states and their controls. We develop a new framework to prove convergence of finite-player games to the asymptotic mean field game. Our approach is based on the concept of propagation of chaos for forward and backward weakly interacting particles which we investigate by stochastic analysis methods, and which appear to be of independent interest. These propagation of chaos arguments allow to derive moment and concentration bounds f…
After defining a pure-action profile in a nonatomic aggregative game, where players have specific compact convex pure-action sets and nonsmooth convex cost functions, as a square-integrable function, we characterize a Wardrop equilibrium as a solution to an infinite-dimensional generalized variational inequality. We show the existence of Wardrop equilibrium and variational Wardrop equilibrium, a concept of equilibrium adapted to the presence of coupling constraints, in monotone nonatomic aggregative games. The uniqueness of (variational) Wardrop equilibrium is proved for strictly or aggregativ…
We consider 2-player stochastic games with perfectly observed actions, and study the limit, as the discount factor goes to one, of the equilibrium payoffs set. In the usual setup where current states are observed by the players, we show that the set of stationary equilibrium payoffs always converges, and provide a simple example where the set of equilibrium payoffs has no limit. We then introduce the more general model of hidden stochastic game, where the players publicly receive imperfect signals over current states. In this setup we present an example where not only the limit set of equilibr…
We consider both discrete and continuous time finite state-action stochastic games. In discrete time stochastic games, it is known that a stationary Blackwell-Nash equilibrium (BNE) exists for a single controller additive reward (SC-AR) stochastic game which is a special case of a general stochastic game. We show that, in general, the additive reward condition is needed for the existence of a BNE. We give an example of a single controller stochastic game which does not satisfy additive reward condition. We show that this example does not have a stationary BNE. For a general discrete time disco…
Convergence of the policy iteration method for discrete and continuous optimal control problems holds under general assumptions. Moreover, in some circumstances, it is also possible to show a quadratic rate of convergence for the algorithm. For Mean Field Games, convergence of the policy iteration method has been recently proved in [9]. Here, we provide an estimate of its rate of convergence.
If a game has a unique Nash equilibrium, then this equilibrium is arguably the solution of the game from the refinement's literature point of view. However, it might be that for almost all initial conditions, all strategies in the support of this equilibrium are eliminated by the replicator dynamics and the best-reply dynamics.
In this paper, we introduce the concept of infinitely split Nash equilibrium in repeated games in which the profile sets are chain-complete posets. Then by using a fixed point theorem on posets in [8], we prove an existence theorem. As an application, we study the repeated extended Bertrant duopoly model of price competition.
This paper aims to design a distributed coordination algorithm for solving a multi-agent decision problem with a hierarchical structure. The primary goal is to search the Nash equilibrium of a noncooperative game such that each player has no incentive to deviate from the equilibrium under its private objective. Meanwhile, the agents can coordinate to optimize the social cost within the set of Nash equilibria of the underlying game. Such an optimal Nash equilibrium problem can be modeled as a distributed optimization problem with variational inequality constraints. We consider the scenario wher…
We consider a game in which each player must find a compromise between more daring strategies that carry a high risk for him to be eliminated, and more cautious ones that, however, reduce his final score. For two symmetric players this game was originally formulated in 1961 by Dresher, who modeled a duel between two opponents. The game has also been of interest in the description of athletic competitions. We extend here the two-player game to an arbitrary number $N$ of symmetric players. We show that there is a mixed-strategy Nash equilibrium and find its exact analytic expression, which we an…
The paper studies fictitious play (FP) learning dynamics in continuous time. It is shown that in almost every potential game, and for almost every initial condition, the rate of convergence of FP is exponential. In particular, the paper focuses on studying the behavior of FP in potential games in which all equilibria of the game are regular, as introduced by Harsanyi. Such games are referred to as regular potential games. Recently it has been shown that almost all potential games (in the sense of the Lebesgue measure) are regular. In this paper it is shown that in any regular potential game (a…
We consider a partially asymmetric multi-players zero-sum game with two strategic variables. All but one players have the same payoff functions, and one player (Player $n$) does not. Two strategic variables are $t_i$'s and $s_i$'s for each player $i$. Mainly we will show the following results. 1) The equilibrium when all players choose $t_i$'s is equivalent to the equilibrium when all but one players choose $t_i$'s and Player $n$ chooses $s_n$ as their strategic variables. 2) The equilibrium when all players choose $s_i$'s is equivalent to the equilibrium when all but one players choose $s_i$'…
We study the equilibrium computation problem for two classical resource allocation games: atomic splittable congestion games and multimarket Cournot oligopolies. For atomic splittable congestion games with singleton strategies and player-specific affine cost functions, we devise the first polynomial time algorithm computing a pure Nash equilibrium. Our algorithm is combinatorial and computes the exact equilibrium assuming rational input. The idea is to compute an equilibrium for an associated integrally-splittable singleton congestion game in which the players can only split their demands in i…
Successful algorithms have been developed for computing Nash equilibrium in a variety of finite game classes. However, solving continuous games -- in which the pure strategy space is (potentially uncountably) infinite -- is far more challenging. Nonetheless, many real-world domains have continuous action spaces, e.g., where actions refer to an amount of time, money, or other resource that is naturally modeled as being real-valued as opposed to integral. We present a new algorithm for {approximating} Nash equilibrium strategies in continuous games. In addition to two-player zero-sum games, our …
