Dynamic Optimization And Differential Games

This book has been written to address the increasing number of Operations Research and Management Science problems (that is, applications) that involve the explicit consideration of time and of gaming among multiple agents. It is a book that will be used both as a textbook and as a reference and guide by those whose work involves the theoretical aspects of dynamic optimization and differential games.

Game theory is the theory of social situations, and the majority of research into the topic focuses on how groups of people interact by developing formulas and algorithms to identify optimal strategies and to predict the outcome of interactions. Only fifty years old, it has already revolutionized economics and finance, and is spreading rapidly to a wide variety of fields. LQ Dynamic Optimization and Differential Games is an assessment of the state of the art in its field and the first modern book on linear-quadratic game theory, one of the most commonly used tools for modelling and analysing strategic decision making problems in economics and management. Linear quadratic dynamic models have a long tradition in economics, operations research and control engineering; and the author begins by describing the one-decision maker LQ dynamic optimization problem before introducing LQ differential games. Covers cooperative and non-cooperative scenarios, and treats the standard information structures (open-loop and feedback). Includes real-life economic examples to illustrate theoretical concepts and results. Presents problem formulations and sound mathematical problem analysis. Includes exercises and solutions, enabling use for self-study or as a course text. Supported by a website featuring solutions to exercises, further examples and computer code for numerical examples. LQ Dynamic Optimization and Differential Games offers a comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of this extensively used class of economic models, and will appeal to applied mathematicians and econometricians as well as researchers and senior undergraduate/graduate students in economics, mathematics, engineering and management science.

Since its initial publication, this text has defined courses in dynamic optimization taught to economics and management science students. The two-part treatment covers the calculus of variations and optimal control. 1998 edition.

Game theory is the theory of social situations, and the majority of research into the topic focuses on how groups of people interact by developing formulas and algorithms to identify optimal strategies and to predict the outcome of interactions. Only fifty years old, it has already revolutionized economics and finance, and is spreading rapidly to a wide variety of fields. LQ Dynamic Optimization and Differential Games is an assessment of the state of the art in its field and the first modern book on linear-quadratic game theory, one of the most commonly used tools for modelling and analysing strategic decision making problems in economics and management. Linear quadratic dynamic models have a long tradition in economics, operations research and control engineering; and the author begins by describing the one-decision maker LQ dynamic optimization problem before introducing LQ differential games. Covers cooperative and non-cooperative scenarios, and treats the standard information structures (open-loop and feedback). Includes real-life economic examples to illustrate theoretical concepts and results. Presents problem formulations and sound mathematical problem analysis. Includes exercises and solutions, enabling use for self-study or as a course text. Supported by a website featuring solutions to exercises, further examples and computer code for numerical examples. LQ Dynamic Optimization and Differential Games offers a comprehensive introduction to the theory and practice of this extensively used class of economic models, and will appeal to applied mathematicians and econometricians as well as researchers and senior undergraduate/graduate students in economics, mathematics, engineering and management science.

The theory of two-person, zero-sum differential games started at the be­ ginning of the 1960s with the works of R. Isaacs in the United States and L. S. Pontryagin and his school in the former Soviet Union. Isaacs based his work on the Dynamic Programming method. He analyzed many special cases of the partial differential equation now called Hamilton­ Jacobi-Isaacs-briefiy HJI-trying to solve them explicitly and synthe­ sizing optimal feedbacks from the solution. He began a study of singular surfaces that was continued mainly by J. Breakwell and P. Bernhard and led to the explicit solution of some low-dimensional but highly nontriv­ ial games; a recent survey of this theory can be found in the book by J. Lewin entitled Differential Games (Springer, 1994). Since the early stages of the theory, several authors worked on making the notion of value of a differential game precise and providing a rigorous derivation of the HJI equation, which does not have a classical solution in most cases; we mention here the works of W. Fleming, A. Friedman (see his book, Differential Games, Wiley, 1971), P. P. Varaiya, E. Roxin, R. J. Elliott and N. J. Kalton, N. N. Krasovskii, and A. I. Subbotin (see their book Po­ sitional Differential Games, Nauka, 1974, and Springer, 1988), and L. D. Berkovitz. A major breakthrough was the introduction in the 1980s of two new notions of generalized solution for Hamilton-Jacobi equations, namely, viscosity solutions, by M. G. Crandall and P. -L.

The classical optimal control theory deals with the determination of an optimal control that optimizes the criterion subjects to the dynamic constraint expressing the evolution of the system state under the influence of control variables. If this is extended to the case of multiple controllers (also called players) with different and sometimes conflicting optimization criteria (payoff function) it is possible to begin to explore differential games. Zero-sum differential games, also called differential games of pursuit, constitute the most developed part of differential games and are rigorously investigated. In this book, the full theory of differential games of pursuit with complete and partial information is developed. Numerous concrete pursuit-evasion games are solved (”life-line” games, simple pursuit games, etc.), and new time-consistent optimality principles in the n-person differential game theory are introduced and investigated. Contents:PreliminariesDefinition of Differential Game of Pursuit and Existence Theorem of Equilibrium PointsClass of Pursuit-Evasion Games with Optimal Open-Loop Strategy for EvaderExamples of Differential Games of Pursuit“Life Line” Game of PursuitDifferential Games with Incomplete InformationNoncooperative Differential GamesCooperative Differential Games with Side PaymentsNew Optimality Principles in n-Person Differential Games Readership: Postgraduates and researchers in applied mathematics. keywords:Pursuier;Evader;Saddle Point;Invariant Center of Pursuit;Value Function;Bellmann-Isaaks Equation;Time Optimal Pursuit Game;Time-Consistency;Optimal Strategy;Lifeline Game

A comprehensive and self-contained exposition of the applications of optimal control and differential game theory to industrial organisation and trade.