Coordination Game (Complementarity and Macroeconomics)

Author: (American) Cooper, translated by Zhang Jun and Li Chi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-03-01
Features: This is a book on advanced macroeconomics. However, it is not a traditional Keynesian economics book but rather a book on game theory. It focuses on the "complementarity" of macroeconomics and its implications for aggregate economics (macroeconomics), so it remains a book about macroeconomics. At the same time, the author uses the method of game theory, and the language is also that of game theory, as well as discussing the theory and application of "coordination games." This book is not very long. The first part explains the basic concepts and analytical framework of complementarity and discusses various outcomes and experimental evidence of coordination games. The second part can be seen as an extension and application analysis of the theory. The author applies the ideas and methods of complementarity or coordination games to the analysis of aggregate macroeconomic activities and their consequences. The theoretical models used include production complementarity, search models, imperfectly competitive markets, time-varying choice models, lagged models, etc. The aggregate issues analyzed cover the main content of macroeconomics, such as economic fluctuations, recessions, money and exchange, savings and consumption, innovation and invention, as well as government policies, etc. For readers who have mastered the basic concepts of macroeconomics and have preliminary knowledge of game theory, reading this book is quite valuable for understanding the microfoundations of aggregate macroeconomic activities. Small internal or external changes often cause "overshooting" in the real economy, and the field of macroeconomic complementarity specifically examines the causes and mechanisms of this "overshooting." Professor Cooper is the absolute authority in this field. This book studies the impact of macroeconomic complementarity on overall behavior, covering the basic framework of complementarity, discussing experimental results of coordination games, and further exploring the application of these concepts in macroeconomics, including production complementarity, search models, imperfectly competitive product markets, time and delay models, as well as the role of government in solving coordination problems, and connecting related fields through these models. This book is one of the essential reads for senior undergraduate and graduate economics students to understand the latest frontiers in macroeconomics.