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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. As mentioned in Chapter 6, which two colleagues agreed to play the experimental prisoner's dilemmas?

2. In the game model prisoner's dilemma who developed the equilibrium solution that undermined rationality in general?

3. John von Neumann developed game theory partly as an alternative foundation to what?

4. In Chapter 6 one of von Neumann's RAND colleagues in the 1950s was mentioned as whom?

5. Who invited von Neumann to join the Manhattan Project?

Short Essay Questions

1. How did von Neumann end up at Princeton after earning his PhD in mathematics?

2. When was the Cold War and who was involved?

3. Who originally suggested the RAND corporation and for what purpose?

4. How does von Neumann's game theory relate to economics?

5. What was the Princeton social scene like while von Neumann was at IAS?

6. What did Merrill Flood observe and conclude about his RAND colleagues as they left California at the end of summer?

7. Who are Mariette, Marianna, and Klara?

8. What kind of studies did RAND conduct?

9. Where is von Neumann from and why was he considered a child prodigy?

10. How is Kriegspiel different from Chess or Tic-tac-toe?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

In real life dollar auctions the author writes about how many a justifiable action, in looking back, becomes the first "defection" in an escalating dilemma. How can you penalize the first bidder for not wanting to waste the "ninety-nine cent profit?" In relation to the nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union what was the defection? Why was there a defection and how did this dilemma escalate as both sides designed more and more nuclear weapons?

Essay Topic 2

In 1971 Martin Shubik published the dollar auction in a 1971 paper and is generally credited as the inventor of this game. What was involved in a game called "so long sucker?" Who collaborated on this game and how did it lead to the development of the dollar auction? How does Shubik describe a dollar auction and what makes it different from an auction at Sotheby's? What applications did the dollar auction have to real life and how did the dollar auction embody the non-rational behavior that many expected in game theory games as part of the logic of escalation in conflict?

Essay Topic 3

How did the strategic thinking of the Cold War become the logic of mathematical game theory as developed by von Neumann and his partner? Who was involved in the Cold War? Who were key players on either side of the conflict?

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