Computation and Complexity in Economic Behavior and Organization

A presentation of the models of computing and computational complexity for economic theorists' use.

Kenneth R. Mount (Author), Stanley Reiter (Author)

9780521800563, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 24 June 2002

248 pages, 51 b/w illus. 7 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.52 kg

'… the authors present frontier research methods on the important economics of 'mechanism design …' Asia Pacific Journal of Management

This book presents a model of computing and a measure of computational complexity which are intended to facilitate analysis of computations performed by people, machines, or a mixed system of people and machines. The model is designed to apply directly to models of economic theory, which typically involve continuous variables and smooth functions, without requiring analysis of approximations. The model permits analysis of the feasibility and complexity of the calculations required of economic agents in order for them to arrive at their decisions. The treatment contains applications of the model to game theory and economics, including comparison of the complexities of different solution concepts in certain bargaining games, and the trade-off between communication and computation in an example of an Edgeworth Box economy.

Acknowledgements
1. Introduction
2. F networks
3. Networks of real-valued functions
4. Applications to economics
5. Applications to games
6. Lower bounds and approximations
7. Organizations
Appendices
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Educational: Mathematics & numeracy [YQM], Computer science [UY], Economics [KC]