International Society of Dynamic Games

Dynamic Games and Applications Seminar

The Value of Information in Zero-Sum Games

November 9, 2023
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM (Montreal winter time)

Webinar link

By the Minimax Theorem of von Neumann and Morgenstern, Zero-Sum games are known to have a value, the expected value to one of the players when both play an optimal strategy. In the following we model Zero-Sum games where players face a hard information/entropy constraint as in the work of Christopher Sims (2003). The resulting game reveals an enlarged set of optimal randomized mixed strategies and can be shown to have an Informational Value which is a measure of the informational robustness of the game. In an example the randomized equilibria (which do not exist when information/entropy constraints are ignored) are derived, the geometric properties of the Shannon/Stratonovich Value of information investigated, and the Informational Value calculated.

Dynamic Games and Applications Seminar

Agent-Based Dynamic Models of Opinion Formation: Where Are We Now?

November 2, 2023
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM (Montreal Time)

Webinar link

Models of opinion formation explore dynamic effects of social complexity, emphasizing that society is more than the sum of its individuals and illustrating how social influence leads to the emergence of collective behaviors. The term “opinions” refers to numerical characteristics of individuals and their behaviors. Opinions can be continuous (real numbers of vectors) or discrete (drawn from a finite set). Their evolution can be described on either microscopic (agent-based) level or macroscopic (population-wide) level. During the presentation, I will concentrate on microscopic dynamical models that involve continuous opinions. These models have attracted significant attention within the fields of dynamical systems, control theory, and AI. We discuss main achievements in analysis of such models, as well as new challenges.